SILENT MIND - YEAR 2
by Akela1987
Summary: The second year in Hogwarts brings to Bella Swan a lot of new adventures and rather intriguing proposal from Professor Snape. But when the writing on the wall says that the Chamber of Secrets has been opened, Bella finds herself in mortal danger.
1. The Blocked Passage

SILENT MIND – YEAR 2

**Crossover: Harry Potter / Twilight**

**Summary: **Absolute AU – Crossover story.

The second year in Hogwarts brings to Bella Swan a lot of new adventures and rather intriguing proposal from Professor Snape. But when the bloddy writing on the wall says that the Chamber of Secrets has been opened, Bella finds herself in mortal danger.

**A/N: **The second story in my "Silent Mind" series. **Mostly** I'm following the movie lead, like mentioning the herbology lesson, where Gryffindors were taking the class along with Slytherins (Hufflepuffs in book version), however there are things I'm taking from the books too. This is AU, however I'm trying to follow the canon storyline, at least for now. Read, enjoy, review!

My best regards to those who favoured and choosed to follow both me as author and the previous story, **Silent Mind – Year 1**. Thank You all for reviews! Keep on expressing your thoughts. It means a lot to me and gives the encouragement to continue with even bigger inspiration than before!

**Special note: I do apologize for delay in publishing this one, but - for those who have not heard yet – at late evening of November 21st a tragedy hit my home country, Latvia, when a roof of supermarket Maxima suddenly collapsed and killed 54 people, including 3 firefighters, injuring 39. Three days of mourning from November 23rd to November 25th has been announced in Latvia, as well as in neighbor countries, Lithuania and Estonia. For all those passed away – R.I.P.**

I don't have any HP book in original, t.i. English language, except the last one, Deathly Hallows. Therefore I do apologize if some things are called incorrectly. I also do not own any of characters, they belong to **J. **and **Stephenie Meyer**. I just borrowed them and mixed up together.

**Characters:** Severus Snape, Bella Swan

_**Shakespeare Sonnet Nr. LVIII (58.)**_

_**That god forbid, that made me first your slave,**_

_**I should in thought control your times of pleasure,**_

_**Or at your hand the account of hours to crave,**_

_**Being your vassal, bound to stay at your leisure!**_

_**O! let me suffer, being at your beck,**_

_**The imprison'd absence of your liberty;**_

_**And patience, tame to sufferance, bide each check,**_

_**Without accusing you of injury.**_

_**Be where you list, your charter is so strong**_

_**That you yourself may privilege your time**_

_**To what you will; to you it doth belong**_

_**Yourself to pardon of self-doing crime.**_

_**I am to wait, though waiting so be hell,**_

_**Not blame your pleasure be it ill or well.**_

Chapter 1 – Blocked passage

The summer ended quickly. Too quickly. I would not mind at all to spend a bit more time with Charlie in Forks. But the end of August came eventually and I received another letter from Hogwarts with a list of books I had to purchase for the second school year. Most of the new books were written by a guy, named Gilderoy Lockhart. I had no idea of who he was, but the name alone seemed hilarious.

Charlie was silent as usual while we drove to the Port Angeles airport where I had to board the plane. At first to New York, then to London. I messed with my earphones, listening one of my favourites – Debussy_. _His music sort of allowed my mind to rest, no matter how stressful I felt. And it came very handy right now. Unlike the last year, I was not scared or worried. This year I was practically burning in anticipation and longing to board the train, meet my friends and once again enter the magical world where anything could happen and where all childish dreams, fairytales and legends lived a real life.

"Jacob sends you greetings and wishes you to have successful school year," Charlie suddenly spoke. "You haven't been in La Push for a long time," he added after a moment.

I remained silent and continued to listen _Claire De Lune_. It was not like I could come forward and honestly admit that most of my free time I spent behind locked door, because I was learning potion brewing, charms and spells – more than half of them not even included in second year's curriculum.

Renee practically bursted up in pride when I told her that I have started the studies in Oxford. She thought I was damn lucky to get into such elitist university – although, as far as she was concerned, every educational institution in England was elitist. Knowing my mother, I would not be surprised if she would accept Hogwarts and that I am a witch as well.

"You know, Bells, it's a good thing to have your studies in top of priorities, but don't you think you're getting yourself overloaded? It would do no harm to spend more time out, go out and have fun with Jake, perhaps?"

"Is Billy paying you for matchmaking?" I asked, a bit irritated, recalling the last time I saw Billy's son. The boy was a bit too friendly. I had suspicions that he got a thing on me, but I was not too fond of dating with someone who is younger than me.

"I worry about you, Bells. You sit alone in your room, nose buried in book, I only see you in mealtime. You should go out, have fun with the other people. That's not normal."

He had no idea how lucky he was to never got to see any of my school books, because if he did, he would immediatly ask questions, and I was not ready to give any answers. However I felt only half-guilty. During the summer, my self-education progressed even more – I managed to master another rather difficult way of magic – non-verbal spells, which meant I could cast most of spells (at least those, who were meant to) without pronouncing the incantation out loud. Sure, some spells inquired the verbal sounds, but there were only few of such kind.

"What exactly is not normal? My serious attitude toward the studies or that I'm in lack of boyfriends?"

Charlie grumbled something under his nose. I knew I hit the weak spot. It was the most terrible nightmare of every father – to live the day when the daughter will be old enough to date with boys.

"Have you met anyone in university?" Charlie seemed determined to ask questions, whether he wanted to hear the answer or not. "I mean, the guys in university are more mature. I just want to be sure you're being careful."

"Dad, please, don't start the Big talk. Besides, the schedule is very tight, I barely have time for doing all the homeworks done. The dating is out of the question." It was only half-truth, but it helped to get Charlie off my back. However his curiousity was not satisfied yet.

"Then why did you decided to return in London so early? You don't have to be back until September, do you?"

"Dad, I must pass the driving test once again. It will take some time, but don't worry, I do have a place to stay."

Now that was one hundred percent of truth. "Leaky Cauldron", as it turned out, was also a motel. I already reserved a room for myself. Charlie, however, was not pleased for having robbed of two weeks we could otherwise spend together, it was obvious, yet he said nothing.

Our goodbye in airport was short one as always – neither of us like long speeches and sentiment. I quickly boarded the plane, took my seat at window in economic class and quickly became engrossed in my notes. After landing in New York, I quickly ate lunch in airport, then nervously fidgeted until the boarding in London's flight was announced. And then the final part of journey started.

"Leaky Cauldron" was quite deserted when I arrived. Tom, the bartender, escorted me to upstairs and showed the room, where I quickly settled down. It was larger than my room in Charlie's house. The table was big enough for my potion equipment and rest of stuff I needed for studying. The four poster bed with dark red bedclothing was meant at least for two persons.

I gave a couple of owl snacks to Amy, then sat on the bed and looked around. I could hear the noise outside that came from the streets of London in Muggle world, but these sounds were mixed with owl hooting and crowd chatter in Diagon Alley. Basically here I was, sitting on the borderline between two worlds. So far I managed to live in both, yet I knew that it cannot last for too long. I did not wanted Charlie to find out about this, but how to hide it from him forever?

I kept on thinking about it, but for now solution did not came. So I left it for later time and instead turned my thoughts to more important matters. I had to pass the driving test in Muggle world and get the books for the school year in Wizarding world. One day this shifting from one world to another will drive me into schizophrenia, I think.

The day of departure had finally come. Today was September 1st, and I was happily anxious to finally get on the "Hogwarts Express".

It took me a couple of weeks until I finally got my driver's license. The old one was not valid in Great Britain, so I had to make all tests again. The _Jeep _was not quite new one, it was a gift from Charlie, Renee and Phil together when I returned in Forks to the summer break. Phil had a friend, Ralph, who lived in Manchester and was looking for buyer to his old car. Renee gave me his phone number so I could call him and get the car as soon as I get the license, which I did – three days ago.

Tom already had freed the parking spot in a side street at "Leaky Cauldron" – it was another one place unaccessable to Muggles – where the car would be kept during the time I spend in Hogwarts. We made a deal that Tom will pick up the truck from the King's Cross station parking lot sometime after the train will leave to Hogwarts, so I had no worries about that one thing at least.

As I walked on platform nine, I heard a loud crash as if someone or something hit the wall, I had a bad feeling of whom I would find there. I leaned on cart and start to run, ignoring angry protest shouts from people who were forced to jump aside to avoid collision with me. Mind to say, Amy also showed her opinion about my sudden speeding up. She flapped her wings against the cage and hooted angrily, but I merely kept on running in quiet hope to be able to stop the cart in time.

When the passage barrier between platforms nine and ten appeared in front of me, I grabbed the cart handle in iron grip and pulled back, gritting teeth in effort to slow down. The surprise was out of question when I saw both trouble magnets, Harry and Ron sitting down on the ground, their carts flipped over and Hedwig's cage wavering dangerously at the nearby train's rails.

"Harry, Ron!" I pulled the boys up and hugged them in joy, then I stepped back and eyed the scene with a grin.

"Hi, Bella!" Harry greeted me, then started to pick up his stuff and place them back on his cart.

"Hey, it's good to see you!" Ron brushed the dirt off his pants, then went to help Harry.

"Yeah, I'm glad to see you too," I lifted Hedwig's cage from enthreatened area and handed it back to Harry. "And it's also nice to see that some things never change, like your ability to get in trouble. So, what happened?"

"We can't get through the barrier," Harry explained.

I frowned and approached the barrier. From the outside it looked just like always – like a brick wall. Quickly glancing around to make sure nobody was watching, I seemingly casually placed my palm on it and slightly pushed forward. My hand went through easily as if through an empty air and I nearly fell to the other side. So far everything was fine so I motioned for the boys to try again.

Harry exchanged looks with Ron, then pushed his cart forward and – nothing. They were right, the barrier did closed up for them.

"It's not working," Harry shook his head in defeat. "Somehow the passage doesn't want us to get through."

"Oh no," Ron moaned. "What if mum and dad won't be able to get back?"

"Come on, Bella, it's almost eleven. You must hurry up! You can still catch the train!" Harry looked at me. "_You_ can get through!"

He had a point, but the thought about leaving boys alone in the God's good humour was unimaginable. Since the last year I took charge over Harry and therefore Ron too. I had no idea how to get them through the barrier, but one thing was clear – we _had _to get to Hogwarts. Since they were unable to board the train, we had to use another way of transport.

And then I nearly laughed out loud when idea struck me as if lightning from clear sky.

"Get your carts and follow me!" I spun around and start to push my cart to the exit. Harry and Ron hesitated, then followed me.

"Where are we going?" Ron asked, trying to catch up with me.

"If you can't get to the platform, I'll take you to Hogwarts myself!"

"How?"

"You'll see, come on!"

We reached the parking lot, where I left my _Jeep_. Today I was thankful to my lucky star for having this car, otherwise it would be very difficult to get to the school. The luggage compartment was large enough to put our trunks in. The boys settled on backseat with Hedwig and Amy's cages between them.

When we finally left London behind and wonderful England landscapes appeared to our eyes, I pulled over on the side of the road. Harry and Ron watched me from the backseat with curious looks on their faces as I rummaged in the purse and finally fished out a piece of paper and my good old Muggle pen.

"Is that one of those Muggle writing things?" Ron pointed at pen.

"Yes, it's called pen, and I'm going to write a note with it. Sorry, guys, there's no time to mess up with ink and quill."

"To whom you're going to write?" Harry leaned forward to have a peek over my shoulder.

"Professor Dumbledore. I'll tell him what happened so he would not be surprised if we're late," I thought for a moment and then scribbled a quick note:

_Dear Professor Dumbledore!_

_Something weird happened at the train station this morning. Harry and Ron were unable to get through the passage to the platform 9 ¾. It simply did not opened for them. I could not leave them in trouble, so now we're on our way to Hogwarts with my own car. Could You please inform our House Heads, Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape, and tell them about our situation? And I do apologize for possibly being late – I don't know how much time it will take for us to reach the school._

_Sincerely Yours,_

_Bella Swan_

"There, it should do. At least we won't lose the house points for being late," I finished the letter and tied it to Amy's leg. The owl took off and soon vanished from sight.

"Bella, do you know how to get to the Hogwarts?" Harry suddenly asked. "It's location is not on a map, is it?"

Harry's words hit me like a ton of bricks. A small panic start to build in my chest, when I realized that in truth I had no idea to where exactly I should drive.

"I know it's somewhere in north," I murmured. "That much I could tell last year."

We all sat in silence, desperately thinking of what to do now. I glanced back to ask if they got any ideas, when my eyes fell on Hedwig's cage. I frowned as a sudden idea sprang in my mind.

"Harry, do you reckon the owls are able to find the letter destination even if the sender doesn't know it?"

"They can!" Ron answered first. "You sent your owl to Hogwarts without knowing where the school is, right? I'm sure Amy will find it with no trouble."

"Then Hedwig could find it too?" I said, thoughtfully.

"I reckon, yes," Harry nodded, while trying to follow the source of my questions. And then his eyes lit up. "Are you saying that – "

"We will let Hedwig out of cage to show the way. If only we could make her to fly not too fast and definitely not too high. Think she could understand that if you'd ask?"

"It's worth to try," Harry opened the cage, and Hedwig hopped out and settled on his arm, ready to take off. "Hedwig, lead us to Hogwarts, would you? Just remain within sight!"

Hedwig hooted and nibbled his finger gently. Then Harry stuck his arm through the window, the owl spread her wings and took off, making a small circles around the car.

"I must pay attention on the road. Harry, look after her and tell me direction, okay?" I start the engine again.

However there was no need for Harry's help. Hedwig flew low enough to make the following rather easy. Remote country roads were nearly deserted, only once in a while another oncoming car passed us, and it allowed me to step on the gas and drive with almost maximal speed. In rearview mirror I could see Harry and Ron grabbing the edge of seat when I took a few sharp turns without dropping the speed.

"Easy, Bella!" Ron clung at front seat's back. "You're driving like mad!"

Be as it may, but driving was one thing I had perfected since age fourteen when Phil allowed me to sit at wheel for the first time. He taught me to drive in deserted Arizona fields that were our practice places with no other cars anywhere near. There, maneouvering among hills and sometimes uneven roads, I gained a good reflexes. At times I wished I could be just as sure and self-assured in walking on my own two feet as I was at wheel.

An hour later Harry suddenly exclaimed and pointed at something on left side. I took a fast glance and laughed, seeing the white steam coming from the scarlet engine of Hogwarts Express. For a while the highway went along the rails, but soon the train was left far behind us.

"Keep this up, and we will reach Hogwarts long before the others," Ron laughed.

"This is gonna be good," I grinned, reaching to turn the _CD _player on. The songs of _Linkin Park _filled the car while we drove further to the north in the lead of Hedwig. Unless the road will not take a great detour, the previous fear of possibly being late might be written out of question.


	2. Whomping Willow

**Chapter 2 – Whomping Willow **

I could not help but notice that Hedwig did not always led us along the main road. Several times she took a detour through the small, dirty roads that passed through the forests or wheatfields. Anyway, it helped us to reach our destination sooner than we expected.

I had changed the _CD _long time ago, because Ron tried to sing along _Linkin Park_, and it was not the best performance. Thankfully, none of them tried to voice out Debussy music, so the rest of journey was spent in relative peace. We did a lot of talking, and I was catching up with the events I missed. Among everything Harry told me about his encounter with house elf Dobby, who warned him not to return in Hogwarts this year, while Ron pondered it was probably Malfoy's doing.

"You know, I wouldn't be surprised to find that Dobby really serves to the Malfoy family," I agreed. "However I would really like to find out what plot he was talking about and what does it have to do with you, Harry."

"Everytime he was about to let slip something, he tried to make a hole in wall with his head," said Harry. "I even asked if it has something to do with Voldemort, but his answer was negative."

"At least some good news. I mean, the last year meeting with good, old Voldy was creepy enough," I shook my head, remembering that god-awful face sprouting out of the back of Quirrell's head.

"Yeah, I agree – wait, Bella! How did you just called You-Know-Who?" Ron suddenly leaned in between the front seats.

"Er, Voldy, I think. So?" I glanced at him, then rolled my eyes at shocked expression on Ron's face. "Oh, come on, the name he choosed is stupid! I wonder what his real name is, though."

"D'you reckon he might have a normal name?" Ron muttered, leaning back in seat.

"Who knows, Ron. Strange things tend to happen. Speaking about strange things, I can't stop thinking about that blocked passage. Harry, do you think that Dobby could be desparate enough to prevent your return to Hogwarts to block the passage?"

In rearview mirror I saw Harry and Ron exchanging looks. Harry shrugged, allowing Ron to answer. "I don't know, perhaps. Though I don't know how powerful are elves. Maybe better ask Hermione."

"Oh, yeah, our walking encyclopedia," I smiled. "In a good meaning, of course. Hey, any idea who will teach us this year in Defence Against the Dark Arts?"

Ron rolled his eyes and made a gagging sound. "Gilderoy Lockhart," he said in clear disgust.

"The same who wrote nearly all books in our list? I wonder if he's really so good as he claims to be."

"When we met him at Flourish and Blotts, he seemed more like an ordinary show-off. Of course, women of all ages are practically melting at mere sight of him. The store was full of them. Oh, that reminds me something," Harry grinned and told me about the meeting with Malfoy and his father in bookstore. Ron joined in, and we all laughed at the story how Ron's dad and Malfoy senior were having fight in a public place.

"Too bad Hagrid intervened too soon. I reckon that Dad would have won," Ron finished.

"I can't believe I missed that!" I sniggered. "Oh, to be a fly on the wall!"

The Hogwarts castle appeared in sight an hour before the sunset. When we passed by the Hogsmeade village, the boys were getting a bit nervous. Must admit, so was I. Though I was sure that Amy already had delivered the letter to Professor Dumbledore, who could tell whether he will be pleased about our choice of travelling. But, then again, neither of us can be blamed for the blocked passage. Snape might have something to say about it, however, but that was his problem, not mine.

Soon the large iron gates of Hogwarts appeared in front of us. I smiled, glancing behind to the boys. "Welcome home, boys!"

Harry and Ron beamed at me, while I slowed down and drove into the castle grounds, searching for a neutral place for parking. As we reached the castle itself, I noticed a huge tree on a left side, next to a stone wall that stretched in a half circle. It seemed like a good place where to leave the car.

"Okay, guys, let's get you out first," I stopped the car in front of great oak door and climbed out to help them to get their trunks.

The front door was slightly ajar, the bright light coming from the Entrance Hall. I could see someone moving inside. Of course, it would be naive to believe that no one noticed the car engine noise and the headlights. In attempt to delay the inevitable, t.i. facing Snape, I went to unload the truck and together we dragged our trunks up the stairs.

Hedwig perched on Harry's shoulder the same second he stepped out of car, however when we reached the entrance, she took off to the Owlery. We walked into the Entrance Hall where Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall already waited for us.

"Oh, there you are at last," Dumbledore practically beamed at us. "I was beginnning to worry that we might sent someone to search for you. How did you managed to find the road to Hogwarts?"

"It was Hedwig, sir," I hurried to answer first," Harry's owl. She flew ahead of us, leading the way."

"Clever, Miss Swan," Professor McGonagall seemed rather confused of the manner of our arrival. "However I would like to know why didn't you board the train just like everyone else?"

We glanced at each other, silently asking the same question – which one volunteers to retell the story of closed wall. I was about to begin, when suddenly I spotted a dark shadow slowly emerging from the staircase that lead to the dungeons. Great, Snape was coming.

"Er, I really should remove the car from the front lawn. Harry, could you cover up for me?" I mumbled, glancing at Snape. Thankfully Harry understood and nodded, then he turned to Headmaster and McGonagall and began the story about what happened in King's Cross station. "I'll be back in a minute," I whispered, then quickly rushed outside.

I should have known better that Snape is not the one to simply wait aside. Before I could take refuge inside my car, he was at my side, smirking as usual. Ignoring my glare, Snape reclined sideways against the door, preventing any chance to get past him. I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes, when he suddenly leaned forward, black eyes boring into mine.

"I see that Potter has infected you with his irresistable urge to show off. So, you are too good for train, Miss Swan. Decided to show up with a pomp?" Snape drawled, his gaze became more and more intense. I gritted my teeth, when the pressure returned in my head like an old, long time unseen buddy. Here we go with Legilimency again, damn him!

"Is that how you greet someone you haven't seen for about two months?" I forced a smile. "Very original, Professor Snape, indeed."

Snape bared his teeth. "Careful, Miss Swan, or else Slytherin might lose house points even before the start of trimester."

I absently raked my fingers through the hair. "If you'd stayed inside with the others, you'd know by now why we missed the train. The passage closed and didn't let us through," I sighed, then added. "Well, it did let me through, but closed immediately as soon Harry and Ron tried to get through."

"If you could get through, why did you choosed to remain behind, then?"

I stared at Snape in disbelief, blinking a few times, before I realized he was not kidding.

Something unbelievable! I bit my tongue to supress a few quite strong four letter words I would love to spat in his face. The trimester was not even started yet, but this imbecile man already asked for a strife! Sometimes I wondered if he actually made it his life purpose to drive me insane. If so, it worked.

"If you seriously think I had to leave them alone in trouble, better think again, Professor," I pushed Snape unceremoniously away from the door and climbed in.

"Where do you think you're going?" Snape held the door open.

"I'm going to park the truck away from the front door, if you don't mind," I fiercely slammed the door close. At last second Snape jerked his hand away to escape catching his fingers in.

Snape's stance clearly said he was about to spat another disapproving remark at me for such disrespecful behaviour. I started the engine, pressed the gas in a rush and drove to the tree I sighted upon arrival. My insides were boiling in anger. What on earth makes him think that he can tell me what to do? Harry and Ron were my friends! How he dared to expect me to leave them, when they were in need of help?

I still muttered insults under my nose, when I climbed out of my car and locked the door. Perhaps not the best place where to leave it, but at least out of sight. Maybe later I could find some more proper parking place. Must remember to ask Hagrid. He was in charge of Hogwarts grounds, maybe he could advise something. Oh, and I must to remember to send an owl to Tom, bartender, so he would not search for the car in train station parking lot in vain.

Thinking about this and that, I turned to walk back to the castle, when I realized that my rucksack is still on a front seat, so I spun around, unlocked the door again and reached inside to grab it. Suddenly I heard someone's screaming my name. The voice sounded like Snape's, but it sounded almost terrified, which was uncharasterically to him. I moved backward too fast, painfully hitting my elbow against the wheel, then I turned to the direction of the voice.

"What the – " I muttered, seeing Snape who was running to me, wand raised, black robes billowing. Right now he actually looked like an overgrown bat. I drew my own wand out, because for a second it seemed that Snape is going to hex me, but then I heard a loud squeak somewhere above my head.

I looked up in time to see the branch in size of huge anaconda falling down, aiming for my head. I leapt aside, and the branch hit the car instead with the force that nearly smashed the hood. The tree literally began to attack my _Jeep_, the branches banged it from all sides, almost crashing the windshield and roof. I tried to reach the car to get it away from endangered area, but the branches swayed and trashed in all directions.

I turned to run for my life, but it was too late. I barely had a time to get a glimpse of notably knotted branch which stroke point-blank towards my head. Then there was a sharp pain, stars swirled before my eyes and everything went blurry. The last thing I heard was Snape's voice somewhere very close, casting a spell, "_Protego_!"

"Stupid girl! Of all places she had to park under the Whomping Willow!"

"Nonsense, it's nothing a simple healing spell cannot fix. Poppy, be so kind and fetch a pain relieving potion. She might have a severe headache after a hit like this one."

Something touched my head, causing it to nearly explode. I groaned and tried to swat the hand away, but someone grabbed my shoulders and held me firmly down against the mattress until the fireworks in my brains subsided.

"Calm down, Miss Swan, and let Madam Pomfrey do her job!"

I recognized Snape's voice and moaned in frustration. Someone – Madam Pomfrey, presumably – ordered me to open my mouth and, when I obeyed, into my throat was poured a vile tasting liquid which I swallowed reflexively.

"Ugh, yuck!" I pulled a face, yet the potion did its job – the pain dissolved and my head felt much clearer. I opened my eyes and saw all three Professors – Dumbledore, Snape and McGonagall around the hospital bed. Madam Pomfrey was stoppering the bottle with a bright blue liquid. Harry and Ron too were here, but they kept themselves in a distance.

"My car!" I struggled to break free, but the grip did not loosened. In spite of his gaunt appearance, Snape was stronger than one could think. "That bloody tree was crashing my car! LET GO!"

"Relax or I'll be forced to hex you!" Snape threatened, his eyes flashing dangerously.

"Everytime I happen to be here, someone is threating to hex me," I rolled my eyes, and Dumbledore chuckled.

"Severus, I believe you may let her go now," McGonagall looked as if she tried to supress a grin. "I believe that Miss Swan won't try to escape the hospital wing, especially when she will hear that her car is safe and sound."

"It is?" I exclaimed, pausing on my attempts to smack Professor Snape's face.

"Yes, Professor Dumbledore removed it quickly and fixed it, so it looks like new," Ron glanced in awe at his most idolized wizard.

Snape abruptly released me and stepped back. "It's rather amusing that you value some piece of metal over your own life, Miss Swan," he drawled, annoying smirk back on his face. "I would advise you in future be careful with Whomping Willow. It's very rare and dangerous tree. Do not ever try to approach it, Miss Swan, unless you wish to pay a visit to Madam Pomfrey again to mend a couple of broken bones."

"And that's assuming you're lucky," Madam Pomfrey grumbled.

"Perhaps we should give Miss Swan a bit of space here," Dumbledore suggested, his eyes twinkling. "Let her rest a few minutes. It's been a long day for her. Severus, Minerva, we should prepare for the arrival of our students."

As soon as everyone left, Harry and Ron rushed to my side.

"How long I've been out?" I pushed the covers away and sat up, ignoring the nurse's protests.

"About half an hour. The Hogwarts Express had not arrived yet. You haven't missed anything much." Harry calmed me.

"And what I _did _missed?" I swung my legs over the edge of bed and pushed my hair away from face.

"Well," said Harry, "we just finished the story of what happened in King's Cross station. Then we heard Snape yelling outside, so we all run out to see what happened. You were lying on the ground and that tree was just about to hit you again, but then Snape cast some spell at tree and it froze and stopped to attack. Dumbledore told Snape to take you to hospital, while he took care of your car. Hagrid removed it to one of additional buildings."

"Oh, that's... that's really great. Why did I never noticed that tree last year?" I groaned.

"We never walked to that part of yard," Ron said, then added somewhat gloomy. "I wish we did."

"What's wrong?" I noticed his upset face. Ron fidgeted, then pulled his wand out of pocket.

I gasped loudly. The wand was nearly broken on half, held together by a few strands of unicorn hair. "How did it happened?"

"I forgot my wand in your car. One of branches smashed the back window and hit it. And now... it's broken."

"Oh, no! I'm so sorry!" I took the wand and examined it closely. "Can it be fixed?"

Ron merely shrugged. I knew his parents do not have much money. They already had to spend a lot, buying seven sets of school books and the whole equipment for Ginny's first year in Hogwarts. I thought a bit of what could I do about it. Even if technically it was not my fault that Ron's wand was broken, it was in my car when the tree attacked, so partly I had to take the responsibility. Maybe I could write a letter to Mister Ollivander and ask for advice? Yeah, that seemed like a good idea.

"Bella, if you feel up to it, you must hurry up to change into the robes and take the seat in Great Hall. The train will arrive in five minutes. Our trunks are already in dormitories," Harry interrupted the silence.

"Great, I'm starving!" I jumped up, fetched my jacket and hurried to the door with Harry and Ron at my side.

"Miss Swan!" Madam Pomfrey poked her head out of her office. "Come back here immediately if you feel disoriented or your vision goes off-line!"

I merely waved at her and made a quick exit. When we were out of her hearing range, the bitter laughter finally escaped my throat. "Ha, just wait! I'll come back only in unconscious state. As for disorientation, being uncoordinated is a part of my nature," I chuckled as we walked to the stairs. "See you guys in a bit, okay?" I parted with Harry and Ron in hallway, then headed to the Entrance Hall.

On my way to the dungeons, my path was suddenly blocked by a figure, dressed up in aquamarine robes. I looked up and recognized the wizard from the back cover of most of our school books. He smiled at me, demonstrating his perfectly white teeth.

Gilderoy Lockhart.

"Isabella Swan, what a pleasure to meet you," he exclaimed. "I already had heard so much about you, but never could I imagine to see such a beauty before my humble self."

I gaped at him, hopelessly trying to figure out what did he wanted from me. But Lockhart grasped my hand and pressed a kiss on my knuckles.

"I was so worried to hear that you've been attacked by the Whomping Willow. If I was there, nothing like that would've happened. I know a few tricks how to make it absolutely harmless..."

Lockhart began to count off the ways of making the Whomping Willow immobile, but after thirty seconds I lost my patience.

"Well, maybe you should tell about those tricks to Headmaster, Professor," I pulled my hand back, forcing a smile. "I'm sure he would be delighted to hear of the possibility to neutralize the tree that can harm the students. Now, excuse me, I have to change into school robes."

Not waiting for his another banter to begin, I turned and rushed down the stairs, pausing around the corner only to make sure he was not following me. The look of admiration Lockhart gave to me was rather disturbing. It reminded a bit of Jacob's behaviour lately.

I snorted scornfully, heading to Snape's office (I needed to get a password to get into the common room), while thinking that maybe I should be careful around Lockhart. The last thing I needed was another drooling admirer pretending to be my shadow.


	3. A New Friends

Chapter 3 – A new friends

Soon enough I had to admit that Snape had a serious competition in contest of The Best Skilled Nerve Killing Teacher. I had my biggest sympathies to Harry, who seemed to get Lockhart's attention since they both met in Flourish and Blotts.

In the first day of trimester Lockhart caught Harry before we entered the greenhouse (I would love to have a few Mandrakes in my daily garden – one of them bit Malfoy, what a joy for the eyes of mere mortal). I vagualy heard him scolding my friend for driving to Hogwarts in car. For whatever reason, Lockhart was under impression that Harry did that because after being photographed for "Daily Prophet" alongside with Lockhart, he desired to make the front page again.

Never before did I heard such rubbish! Harry never liked attention. He practically hated it. And, mind to say, he had enough of it due to his past. Whenever people were staring at him and his scar, I could see his discomfort and obvious wish to be just a normal boy, an ordinary student. Perhaps no one told Lockhart that Harry already was even more famous than he could ever be. Perhaps _I _should tell him that one.

When Harry finally joined us in greenhouse, I barely stiffled a laughter at his annoyed face. After the lunch one of Gryffindor first years, Colin Creevy made the whole situation even worse, trying to talk Harry into posing for photo to sign it later. And again Lockhart intervened, posing _with _Harry, who looked like he wanted to vanish into the ground.

"Is it me, or Lockhart really thinks the earth revolves about him?" I wondered while we took our seats in DADA class.

Harry piled all Lockhart's books in front of him to block the sight of their maker. "I wish I could do Disillusionment," he muttered to me. "Then I could simply vanish out of his sight!"

"I can do it for you," I offered. "Disillusionment can be cast on the other person too. Just let me know when you need it."

"How about right now and, please, make it last 'till the end of school year," Harry squinted at me with a desparate eyes.

Before I could reply, the door opened and Professor Lockhart marched out of his office (stationed a bit higher than the classroom at top of short stairs), flashing his teeth to right and left.

"Let me introduce you to your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher... me!" he said, pointing at it and winking as well. "Gilderoy Lockhart, Order or Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League, and five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most-Charming-Smile Award – but I don't talk about that. I didn't get a rid of the Bandon Banshee by smiling at her!"

Lockhart winked at class, causing most of girls giggling like a bunch of blushing idiots. Even Hermione smiled dreamily like a fool. I urged to kick her chair. Harry and Ron looked disgusted as well as the rest of male students in the classroom.

I followed Harry's lead and piled the Lockhart books in front of me to block the sight. His voice alone was easy to ignore. I crossed my arms on desk and leaned my head down, slowly dozing off, while Lockhart continued to babble about how he will teach us to fight against the most terrifying creatures and other Dark Arts.

When there was a loud squeak from Lockhart's position, I lifted my head to see the origin of the sound. There was a huge cage on his desk, full with indigo blue creatures with big, pointy ears, two antlers and wings. Their eyes were pitch black, the sharp, razor-like teeth snapped every once in a while as creatures tried to gnaw the bars.

"Cornish pixies!" Seamus laughed, at the same time answering on question in my thoughts – what the hell were those things?

And these pixies were considered dangerous? More than half of class laughed along with Seamus, but the fun ended when suddenly Lockhart unlocked the cage and opened its door with a wide gesture, releasing the pixies in freedom.

The pixies did not hesitated and created the real havoc that could put armageddon in shame. Everyone rushed to the door, screaming in panic, when pixies threw the books up in the air, splashed the students with ink, tore up parchments and everything else that come at hand. Couple of little creatures seized Neville and lifted the poor boy up in the air, hooking him by collar at iron chandelier.

Lockhart tried to cast a spell, but in result nothing happened apart from him losing his own wand – one of pixies grasped it and used to crash apart a huge skeleton that used to hang in chains at the ceiling. Lockhart run to his office, but then paused and glanced at four of us – everyone else had left already, but we unfortunately remained the last ones to escape.

"Oh, I'll ask you four to just nip the rest of them back into their cage!" he quickly said, before vanishing behind his office door.

"Oh, great, this is just perfect," I groaned, smacking one of pixies with a copy of _Gadding with Ghouls_. "I'm telling you, he has no idea of what he's doing. I bet even Hagrid knows more about fighting the Dark Arts than Lockhart does."

"You've read his books, didn't you? I mean, look at all those amazing things he's done," Hermione objected, using a Freezing Charm to catch couple of pixies and place them back into the cage.

"He says he's done," murmured Ron.

"Well said, Ron," I agreed. "A real hero never praises oneself. I'd really like to have a word with those saved by him. Just to see if he was telling the truth, y'know?"Another aimful smack sent two pixies into oblivion, much for my pleasure, however soon I had to crouch to avoid a book, thrown at me by a very angry pixie. "I have a feeling that our Lockhart is not so skilled as he claims to be. Any other teacher would give at least a verbal hint of how to deal with these little monsters!"

Hermione murmured something under her nose which suspiciously sounded like 'he just wanted us to learn by ourselves how to deal with them', but my attention was distracted by yet another pixie, so I decided not to argue right now.

I heard an excited buzzing in common room, when I walked through the stone wall passage later that evening after dinner. A group of Slytherins had gathered around the table in one corner of the room. Among them I spotted Malfoy and Marcus Flint, the captain of Slytherin Quidditch team. There were dozen others, some of them, as I knew, also were playing in team.

When I entered, the chattering subsided. They glanced at me cautiously, but I ignored them and strode to the dormitory, only at the door glancing back to see that they went back to examining something that was on the table. From here I could see a pile of lenghty, thin packages in brown paper wrapping. Whatever it was, they obviously were not going to open it in my presence.

I walked in dormitory – which was empty – and did a quick thinking. It had to do something with Slytherin Quidditch team. Malfoy looked especially happy, and it was a bad sign. In similar situation Harry would probably use his Invisibility Cloak, but I had a good alternative.

A quick Disillusionment, and the problem solved. The Slytherins were too busy with unwrapping the packages to notice that girls dormitory door opened and closed.

"I will try to find out, when Gryffindors are planning their practice time. It would do them good to see these beauties," Flint looked at seven absolutely new brooms, laid in a perfect line on a huge ebony table.

I moved closer to read the golden inscription on nearest broom's handle – Nimbus Two Thousand and One. Uh oh, this is bad, I thought, while Flint turned to Malfoy who grinned like the Christmas had came early.

"You can tell your father that we'll be glad to have you in team as a Seeker. And these," he gestured towards the brooms, "are simply amazing. Give him our appreciation for his generous gift!"

"My father supports our team. He wanted us to have the best," Malfoy casually shrugged, but I could see that he had a hard time to not look too smug.

So, Malfoy practically bought himself a place in team. I gritted my teeth in anger and quietly crossed the common room, heading to the exit. These news could not wait till tomorrow. The sooner Oliver Wood will find out about this, the better. I leaned against the door (it was visible from the inside, while from the outside it was nothing but a stone wall), waiting for a moment, when no one was looking. It was not hard, though, since they were all engrossed in admiration, now weighing the brooms in hands and calculating how fast they might be.

As soon as I could, I slipped out and dashed to the stairs. To avoid being caught, I cast a Silencing Charm on my shoes. It came very handy, because, turning around the corner, I nearly run on Snape who just had returned from wherever he had been and now headed to his office. When I run past him, I noticed that the Potions Master paused for a second, probably feeling the slight gush of wind, but thankfully he said nothing. However I did not looked back to see whether he strode on or continued to stand in the middle of the corridor.

When I reached the Entrance Hall, I paused, suddenly unsure of where to go now. I had no idea where the Gryffindor tower was. And even more – how to get in. The House passwords were known only by accordant students. It was forbidden to tell the password to someone from the other house.

Then I spotted very familiar, pearl-white figure gliding on the top of stairs. What a luck! I dashed up and soon caught up with the ghost.

"Sir Nicholas!" I called to make him stop. "Wait! I – must – speak – to you! Sir Nicholas!"

The Gryffindor ghost, Sir Nicholas, known also as Nearly-Headless-Nick (because his head was not properly decapitated, holding on his shoulders by a single strand of skin) paused in the middle of corridor, looking around for the owner of the voice. I run to him and quickly removed the charm.

"Miss Swan!" Nick looked surprised. "My dear, you surely shouldn't be outside in such late hour! You can get in trouble, young lady!" he scoldingly shook his finger.

"I have a permission from Headmaster to be outside even after curfew," I was tired of explaining it to everyone. "Look, I really need your help."

"Of course, Miss Swan," Nick smiled warmly. I felt lucky for meeting him in the very moment I needed help the most. "What ghostly service I can do for you?"

"First, I need you to show me the way to the Gryffindor tower. No, wait, let me finish," I quickly said, because Nick's face became alerted when I mentioned Gryffindor House. "I don't need to get in, just take me to the entrance. Then I need you to go in and find Oliver Wood, the captain of Quidditch team. Tell him to come out. Can you do that?"

"May I ask, why?" Nick still sounded suspicious.

"Because I need to warn him! The Slytherins are up to something," Nick still did not looked convinced. I rolled my eyes impatiently. "Oh, come on! Harry is playing in Quidditch team too! And he's one of my best friends, surely you know that!"

"Well – if it's an emergency – " Nick thoughtfully drawled, then straighened up. "All right, Miss Swan, follow me. This way, if you please."

Nick began to glide upstairs, fortunately not even once trying to slid through the wall. Instead he kept on moving along the stairs so I could keep up with him easily. Of course, I hid under Disillusionment again so no one would see me and therefore become suspicious – in case if my nightly walk would come in Slytherins' ears, as I explained to Nick.

We walked up and up, passing few other ghosts, including the Grey Lady, Ravenclaw ghost. She merely nodded at Nick and quickly disappeared into the nearest wall. Otherwise the corridors were empty. Even the poltergeist, Peeves seemed to be tired – or not quite worked up yet, depends on what havoc he planned to make this year.

Just when I start to wonder how much longer we should go, Sir Nicholas abruptly turned to the left and led me along the narrow corridor. At the end of it a huge portrait of a very fat woman, dressed in a pink dress. Apparently this was Fat Lady who guarded the entrance to the Gryffindor common room.

"Now, wait here, Miss Swan, if you're still here," Nick looked around, unable to see me.

"I am," I whispered. "Please, find Oliver!"

"Right away, young lady," Nick nobly saluted and vanished through the wall, right next to the portrait which seemed to be asleep.

I leaned against the wall and crossed my fingers. Oliver never been too fond of me, but lately his attitude had improved a bit since he found out that I helped Harry and Ron to get to school. I assumed it would take a while to gain his complete trust, but – then again, it was not my fault of being Slytherin.

The portrait swung open, revealing Oliver Wood, who looked as if Nick had just kicked him out of bed – which probably was the very case. He yawned, trying to smooth his dishevelled hair with one hand and holding the robe closed over pyjamas with the other. Nick slid through the wall again and followed close to Oliver, apparently not wanting to miss a word from what I had to say.

"So, where is she?" Oliver looked around in irritation.

"Right here," I removed the charm and waved him to come closer.

"Bella?" Oliver frowned, his eyes narrowing in the same suspicious expression I already seen earlier in Nick's face. "Nick said you have something very urgent to say."

"I do. Tell me, does anyone else, I mean, aside from Professor McGonagall knows when do you plan to begin the Quidditch practice?"

"Why? Are you trying to spy for Slytherins?" he suddenly hissed in clear annoyment. "Very clever, really. As if I'm going to tell you a damned thing!"

"Bloody hell!" I spat Ron's favourite curse. "I'm not spying for Slytherin, more like in contrary. Now, here's what I just saw in our common room – "

I spent the next few minutes to tell him about the scene I saw – about the new brooms the Slytherins received from Lucius Malfoy, about their new Seeker, Draco Malfoy. I also told him Flint's plan to find out when Gryffindors are planning their first practice to mess it up. By the time I finished, Oliver was looking at me as if seeing me for the very first time.

"Just one question, Bella," he said. "Why are you telling me all this?"

I frowned. "Why not?"

"Well, you're a Slytherin. Shouldn't you be supporting your House team?"

I moaned in disbelief. Indeed, how long it would take for him to understand that I did not cared the less about my housemates.

"Perhaps it slipped your notice that last year I was standing with Gryffindor fans, but if you don't believe I'm giving support to Gryffindor team, then how about this – I'm doing it for Harry's sake. He's a Seeker, isn't he? And I think everyone knows that we're friends. Or did you missed that too?"

"I know Harry is very fond of you, but still – you're Slytherin!" Oliver looked confused, however less suspicious.

"Now that's a discrimination," I pouted.

Behind Oliver's back I could see Nick who was trying to stiffle laughter. He gave me 'thumbs up' gesture.

Oliver raked his fingers through his already tousled hair, making them even more messy then before. Now he looked like a punk after a long night party.

"If anyone had told me that Slytherin student would stand for Gryffindors, I would never believed."

"I didn't get sorted in Slytherin on my own choosing, believe me. If I could choose the House, it would not be Slytherin."

"Which one it would be, then?" Oliver grinned. "Gryffindor?"

"It could be Hufflepuff, for all I care."

Oliver chuckled, then went into deep thoughts for a moment. Nick lazily floated in the air, watching us both. Finally Wood looked up at me and sighed.

"Hmm, I will ask Professor McGonagall to not say a word about our practice time to Professor Snape. I spent the summer devising a whole new Quidditch program. The last thing I need is Slytherins messing it up."

"That's why I decided to give you a little heads up," I nodded. "One thing is to get in team through the tryouts, in legal and honest way. It's completely different thing, when you bribe the team to get a place."

"I see that you prefer a honest play," Wood's eyes showed a glimpse of appreciation. "It's really honorable. You'll be standing with Gryffindor fans this year too, I suppose?"

"Must remind Hermione to get me that scarf again," I grinned.

"What scarf?" Wood asked, confused.

I shortly retold him how I irritated the Slytherins last year just before Harry's first Quidditch game. Oliver seemed to like me with every second even more.

"You know," he said after a pause of thinking. "You can come to watch our practice, if you wish. I must admit, when Harry told me that you're friends, I thought at first that he was kidding."

"You're not the only one, I guess," I stiffened a yawn, then patted his shoulder. "Okay, I'm off to bed now. If anything else will come to my ears, I'll let you or Harry know."

Oliver stood, contemplating something, then hesitantly held out his hand. "Thank you, Bella."

I took the offered hand and shook it. "Anytime, Oliver. Good night!"

"You too," with that he turned and strode back to Fat Lady to wake her up and tell her the password to get back in common room (she was not utterly happy for being rudely awakened).

I watched how the portrait closed after him, then glanced up to Nick, who beamed at me.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing. I merely admire your spirit, Miss Swan!" the ghost bowed before me. "May I escort you back to dungeons?"

"As long as you're not afraid of Bloody Baron," I grinned mischeviously. "And, please, call me Bella. All of my friends call me by my name."

"Am I your friend too?" Nick inquired, as we walked down the stairs – well, at least I was walking, while Nick simply glided next to me.

"Of course, you are. Well, if you want to be, that is," I squinted at him, worried that perhaps he would decline it.

Nick, however, looked somewhat pleased. "I am familiar with most of students, but no one ever called me friend. They accept me as a natural part of Hogwarts and nothing more," he added, looking a bit upset.

"That's really awful. I mean, even if you're dead, it doesn't mean you don't have any feelings left."

"Exactly," Nick agreed, as we turned around the corner and continued our way down another staircase. "I always thought it would be really nice to have a real friend."

"Now you have one. I must admit, I never befriended a ghost, but it's not like you're different from alive person. The only difference is that you can walk through the walls."

Nick laughed. "Oh, I bet you wish you could do that too, am I right, _Bella_?"

I had to agree. Together we reached the dungeons, where Nick bid me good night and floated away, looking extremely happy. I smiled, casting my favourite charm and sneaked back to the dormitory, unnoticed by anyone. Even if my warning would do not much good, I gained a new friends – Oliver (well, at least there was a potential for us to become friends soon) and Sir Nicholas. Among all things in life, friendship was the one of those I valued the most.


	4. Detention With Lockhart

Chapter 4 – Detention with Lockhart

My patience had ended and only thanks to Malfoy who finally had stepped over all boundaries possible, and there was a huge price to pay!

The first Saturday of trimester, Gryffindors had a first Quidditch practice. Unfortunately Wood was unable to persuade McGonagall to remain quiet – she had to inform the other House Heads about their practice days and time so the others could plan their practices for the different time.

Oliver already passed my warning to the other team members, so they were not surprised to see Slytherin new brooms. However, during the confrontation between both teams, Hermione did pointed out that unlike of them, no one in Gryffindor had to buy their place for they were taken because of talent. Malfoy spat his response, calling Hermione 'Mudblood'.

If Flint did not covered Malfoy timely, I doubt he had lived long enough to see another day. Too bad that Ron's wand backfired when he shot a curse at Malfoy, which resulted in vomiting slimes. I helped Harry and Hermione to drag Ron to Hagrid's hut, where the giant gave him a huge bowl where to spit the slimes in. Must admit, I was rather confused what the fuss was about. Malfoy called me Mudblood on a daily basis.

"Who's Ron tryin' to curse, anyway?" Hagrid asked when we all sat down.

"Malfoy," Harry answered. "He called Hermione – I don't know what it means."

"He called me Mudblood," Hermione stood up and turned her back on us.

"He did not!" Hagrid gasped in shock and anger.

"Er, mind to explain?" I intervened. "I mean, Malfoy and the others have been calling me Mudblood since my first day in Hogwarts, so what? I don't see what's so terrible about it." Four pairs of eyes now looked at me, full of astonishment. I glanced back at each of them in turn. "No, really! I've heard a lot worse words in Muggle world."

"Mudblood is a very foul name for someone who is Muggle-born. Someone with non-magic parents. Someone like me – and you," Hermione's voice was steady, but her eyes were filled with tears. "It's not a term one usually hears in civilized conversation."

"I didn't know that," I whispered, a bit stricken. "All those times he was calling me Mudblood, and I didn't even know the meaning of it."

Hagrid snorted. "See, the thing is, there're some wizards, like the Malfoy family, who think they're better'n everyone else because they're what people call '_pure blood_'."

"That's horrible!" Harry was angry, it was obvious. I did not need Legilimency to read his thoughts of what he would love to do with Malfoy right now.

"And it's codswallop, to boot. '_Dirty blood_'. Why, there isn't a wizard alive today that's not half blood or less. More ter the point, they've yet to think of a spell that our Hermione can' do," Hagrid added.

Hermione smiled, however the tears still were visible in her eyes. I stood up and walked over to her, tightly hugging the girl. She trembled slightly, pressing her face in my robes, but her sobs ceased soon. I soothingly rubbed her back, then pulled back and lifted her chin up, gently wiping the few remaining tears away from her cheeks with my thumbs.

"Don't cry, Hermione. You're much worthy than any pureblood. No offense, Ron," I glanced apologetically to redhead, who merely waved, like saying 'no problem', and leaned over the bowl again to release another slime in freedom. I grinned, then looked back to Hermione. "I'm a Muggle-born, just like you. And you know what – we have advantage that most of them don't have."

"What's that?" Hermione asked, slowly calming down.

"The purebloods knows only one world – the wizarding one. Just like the Muggles knows only the Muggle world. But we – we know both worlds. We're familiar with both Muggle technologies and magic spells. It is an advantage, don't you think?"

"Bella's right," Harry smiled at us. "Being Muggle-born has its advantages. Or being raised by Muggles, even if you're from a wizarding family," he added, pointing at himself.

"Now I feel like an idiot," Ron lifted his head from the bowl, his face pale and sweaty. "I don't know much about Muggle world."

"Oh, I think, we can easily fix that," I playfully ruffled Hermione's bushy hair. "What do you think, Mione? Should we reveal the hidden secrets of Muggle world to Ron?" I spoke in dreadful, hissing voice, pulling a terrifying face and rolling my eyes.

There was a second of silence, and then Hagrid's hut was filled with a many-voiced laughter. Hagrid made a tea and together we spent the time till the lunch, talking about this and that. The incident with Malfoy was soon forgotten in their minds. But not in mine.

Later that evening Malfoy went to sleep without even slightest suspicions that in the next morning a surprise would await him when he will look in mirror. I do not take offense lightly, especially when someone like Malfoy steps on my friends' toes.

It was the last week of October, but Snape still had no success of finding the culprit who hexed Malfoy with Ear-Growing curse. It was rather nasty one, because the countercurse took effect only after fourty-eight hours, and Malfoy was forced to wear a thick woolen hat to hide his large, pointed ears that made him suspiciously alike to a rabbit and pixie hybrid. Both Malfoy and Snape spat fire in anger, but in vain.

Unfortunately I did not properly judged Snape's determination. He began to check every Slytherin student's wand, because the curse was cast at Malfoy when he was in common room, that much Snape figured out after particulary questioning Malfoy for whole two hours tete-a-tete in his office. Now when it was clear that it was only a matter of time until the caster's identity will be revealed, I waited for the day when I will have to pass his examination. And sure thing, two days before Halloween, Snape asked me to remain in class after the Potions.

"Miss Swan, may I see your wand?" he reached out his hand.

I blinked innocently. "Excuse me?"

Snape sighed impatiently. "Give me your wand, Miss Swan, or I'll call for Headmaster!"

I huffed and pulled my wand, giving it to him, already knowing what would happen next. Snape cast a spell to review all spells I have been casting lately. Of course, a few minutes later he finally saw the curse he has been looking for. I embraced myself to the following wrath.

"So, you were the one to curse Mr. Malfoy," Snape quietly said, giving the wand back to me. "Well, I hope you enjoyed it as well as you shall enjoy the consequences."

"And that would be?"

"Detention for a week, Miss Swan!" Snape smiled in a way that meant I was in serious trouble. "You will start tonight, at eight o'clock, precisely. Professor Lockhart was looking for someone who could help him to answer his fan mail. I daresay he's got a plenty of admirers, so you'll find yourself quite busy for the following week."

I wanted to lounge forward and strangle him with my bare hands. Why he could not assign me to scrub cauldrons or help Filch with his duties, or anything else? I would rather spend the whole week in the depths of Forbidden Forest, facing whatever cretures were living there than be in close Lockhart's proximity.

The disgust in my face was obvious, I think, because Snape's smirk grew bigger. "I'm afraid that also means that you'll be missing the Halloween feast as well. Perhaps it will help you to remember in future to avoid cursing your own housemates."

"And you're not even going to ask me why I cursed Malfoy?"

"No, I think not. Eight o'clock in Professor Lockhart's office! Get out and be thankful you're not expelled!"

The Mirror of Erised image resurfaced in my mind. I wanted to laugh at it, so absurd it seemed with each passing day more. Perhaps there was something wrong with that mirror, maybe it was damaged when Dumbledore hid the Philosopher's Stone into it. Only that could explain the unbelievable image it showed to me. How could I possibly desire someone I hated?

If looks could kill, Snape would already be dead by now. Without saying a word, I spun around and darted out of class, mentally cursing Snape with the worst names I could only imagine, because detention meant that I would have to miss not only Halloween feast, but a rather intriguing party as well.

Earlier today I received an invitation from Sir Nicholas to attend his deathday party. He invited Harry, Ron and Hermione too, for all I knew. Hermione was very excited, while the rest of us had doubts, but we decided to go anyway. Besides, Nick was my friend now, I could not let him down, since he especially noted that he would be most delighted to see me there.

Now, however, I would not be able to go. For the rest of day my anger did not subsided. I felt like a bomb with timer, ready to explode at any second. And it was very likely that explosion might take place in detention. For Lockhart's own sake, I hoped he would keep his mouth shut.

"Unimaginable bastard! It's hardly the first time when students are hexing each other, but he's acting like I commited a federal crime!" I ranted, pacing back and forth along the whole length of upper platform of the Astronomy tower, where Sir Nicholas found me a couple of hours later. "I can't believe I'm going to miss your party, Nick! What a good friend I am, huh?" I added bitterly.

"Oh, Bella, there is no need to be so self-reproachable!" Nick soothed me, floathing closer and placing his hand on my shoulder – well, his palm actually hovered an inch above my shoulder, because otherwise it would simply go right through me. "Professor Snape is right, you should be glad he didn't expelled you. However, I'm curious. May I ask, why did you cursed young Malfoy?"

"Because he called Hermione... Mudblood," I sighed. "I heard him using that word before, but only lately I found out what it means."

Nick seemed taken aback. His pearly white face became even more paler, then he cleared his throat. "Well, I don't blame you then. It was a well deserved curse. Perhaps next time you should erase the evidence from your wand to avoid the trouble? Or use the person's wand whom you're planning to curse."

"Next time?" I stared at him increduously, then start to laugh. Nick looked pleased with himself. "So now you're giving me hints for cursing my housemates?"

"Not everyone, of course!" Nick exclaimed in faked horror. "Only those who are showing disrespect to the others in the most foulest ways, like Draco Malfoy did. But," he leaned closer and whispered, "don't tell anyone I said that. Some people think that we, ghosts, must share our great life experience and wisdom with students, rather than teaching them how to best prank the others."

"Nick, you're amazing, my friend!" I shook my head in disbelief, but then I glanced at my watch and realized in horror that it's almost eight o'clock. "Damn, I must go to serve detention with Lockhart. I wish I could talk Peeves into haunting his chambers!"

"Should I have a word with Peeves?" Nick offered.

I paused on my way to the door. "Are you serious?"

"Oh, yes, I am. I've seen many professors of this school, some really ingenious, some less talanted, but no one has ever been so clueless like Lockhart," Nick frowned. "I do wonder, why did Headmaster hired him, unless he was the only candidate to this job. Not so many people wants to go for Dark Arts."

"Hagrid said the same thing," I noted, as we went down the spiral stairs. "He also said that the post itself is sort of jinxed. No one stayed longer than one year in this position."

"That's true. However it wasn't always that way. I clearly remember one Professor who taught Defense Against the Dark Arts for more than fourty years. So," Nick continued in more chirpy tone, "do you want me to talk to Peeves or not?"

"Hmm, I'll see how he will behave tonight. If everything will be normal, then no, but if he gets on my nerves – which is more likely to happen – I will let you know."

When we reached Lockhart's office, Nick waved me goodbye and left me alone with my worst nightmare (Snape did fell down to the second place a long time ago). I clenched my teeth and surrended to the cruel fate, knocking at the door. Lockhart greeted me with another dazzling smile. As soon as I stepped over the threshold, he took my hand, led me across the room to his desk and pulled the chair for me in gentlemanly manner. I nodded curtly to show my thanks.

"My dear Miss Swan," Lockhart took his own seat and pulled a thick pack of envelopes as well as parchment with listed addresses. "Here you go. All you have to do is to write those addresses on envelopes."

He said it as if it was every person's greatest dream to come true. Personally I longed to tear all those signed photos and envelopes in small rags and pour them over his head. Taking a deep breath, I took the first envelope and began to write.

My previous hopes that Lockhart might be merciful enough to remain silent shattered in pieces after the first two hours, during which he managed to sign about hundred of his photos, but the stack in front of him surprisingly did not decreased.

"Miss Swan," it was incredible how he could sign his photos one after another with enviable speed and speak at once. "I must admit, I'm practically dying to get to know more about you. Never before I met so interesting witch."

"I seriously doubt that," I murmured under my nose.

Fortunately Lockhart did not heard it. "Perhaps I should not do this, because there are some restrictions, concerning the term between teacher and student, but then again, you're hardly an ordinary student, Miss Swan. I may be too bold, but you're very intriguing person."

I narrowed my eyes, unsure of what he was up to. However I did not have to guess for long, when Lockhart stood up and opened one of the cabinets, taking a bottle of mead and two glasses. Since he had no extra pair of eyes in his back, he could not see how my lips moved, sending him silent curses.

"The best mead in British Isles!" Lockhart announced, pouring the liquid in the glass and handing it to me, but I shook my head.

"I don't drink, _Professor_," I put emphasis on the last word to point out his status and that he should not give such improper example to me, his student.

Lockhart seemed confused, then he quickly looked around, searching for possibly something non-alcoholic. I hoped he would not find anything and leave it at that, but apparently I underestimated him. Within a second, Lockhart found another bottle and poured its content in another glass. I eyed the bright red liquid suspiciously.

"Cherry juice," Lockhart cheerfully said, taking a sip from his own glass of mead. "Absolutely zero alcohol, a simple refreshment. I bet you never thought that detention could be so pleasant."

I wondered if I could pull out my wand without his notice. Or, as Nick advised, sneak his wand to hex him into blissful oblivion.

"Isn't it wonderful? When I heard Professor Snape talking with Filch in staff room about your detention, I immediately intervened. It would be so horrible to spend the whole week, fulfilling such unpleasant tasks like polishing silver in trophy room or scrubbing cauldrons. "

"How generous of you," I muttered barely audible, leaning over the stack of envelopes to resume writing those bloody addresses. I also shook my hair to one side, letting them fall between us like a curtain.

"You know, we both have a lot in common," Lockhart seemed unable to simply sit in silence. "I doubt there has ever been any other wizard or witch who were so extraordinary as we are. I know what you think, 'he's probably only teasing me, it's easy for him to speak, he's already a world-famous wizard, while I'm merely a second year student in this age'. But I daresay, Miss Swan, the time will come and the world will see your worth!"

"You're right," I slightly pushed the hair away to give him the coldest stare I was capable of.

"Really?"

"Yes. You really _are _too bold, Professor!"

Lockhart looked like he just got hit by a lightning. I flashed an innocent smile and turned my attention to envelopes, silently counting remaining minutes – not a single detention could last more than four hours. Which meant I had to endure his presence another hour and thirty seven minutes.

Dear Merlin, help me to survive the remaining six detention nights without cursing Lockhart! I repeated it over and over again, knowing that otherwise I would end up with another detention week – or even longer.

First thing tomorrow – ask Nick to have a talk with Peeves!


	5. The Chamber Of Secrets

Chapter 5 – The Chamber of Secrets

It should come as no surprise that there is no such thing as normal, peaceful, absolutely eventless school year in Hogwarts.

At Halloween night I went straight to the dormitory, using a shortcut only few students knew (including Fred and George Weasleys, of course – they were the ones to show me the passage), and that was why I missed the beginning of the events that now was in center of everyone's attention.

It all started when Harry, Ron and Hermione, returning from Deathday party, found Filch's cat, Mrs. Norris. Someone – or something – had Petrified this poor animal and left it swinging at the torch, leaving a writing on the wall – _The Chamber of Secrets has been opened... enemies of the heir – beware_. Entire school was buzzing about it, contemplating who could do that. Some people, like Snape (why I'm not surprised?), suspected Harry – which was rubbish, of course, he would never do such a thing.

I did not asked anything in details, because I still had four days left in detention with Lockhart, and it took every ounce of my patience and self-control. To my deepest pleasure, Nick kept his word and talked to Peeves who agreed to give Lockhart a hard time. When I finally closed his office doors, hopefully for the last time, the first shock about petrified cat and bloody writing had worn off, however my curiousity did not.

Hermione had left her copy of Hogwarts. The History home, so she borrowed mine to read the legend about Chamber of Secrets. The legend said that one of founders of Hogwarts, Salazar Slytherin made a secret chamber in this school after a rather vicious fight with another founder, Godric Gryffindor – and once again I was not surprised at all. Salazar Slytherin, the first one who objected against teaching Muggle-borns in magical arts. Professor McGonagall repeated the legend in one of Transfiguration class when Hermione asked her to tell about the Chamber of Secrets.

"I'm telling you, if Sorting Hat tried to put me in Slytherin, I'd board the train home right away," Ron said as we walked out of class.

"Bet Salazar Slytherin is rolling in grave now that there's a Mudblood in his precious house of pure magical blood," I grinned.

Ron abruptly went silent. "I'm sorry, Bella, I didn't think."

I shook my head. "No worries, mate," I did an impersonation of Australian accent that made them laugh. "No offense taken. In fact, right now I'm a bit proud of being a Slytherin. Especially because of my Muggle origin. Sometimes I feel like a freaking James Bond, sent into the enemy headquarters."

Ron grinned, exchanging looks with Harry. They both were having a lot of fun, watching me bickering with Slytherins who kept on calling me Mudblood at least thrice at day, to which I usually responded with slight insults from Muggle world, which they could not understand – unlike Hermione and Harry, who translated the meaning to Ron.

"So, let's resume it. There is a chamber in Hogwarts, with a monster living inside. And among the students is one, descended from Slytherin family tree, who has opened that chamber and released the monster to attack those who are unfriendly to the heir," I said, then chuckled. "I must be careful with whom I'm talking to."

"If only we'd know who is it," said Harry.

"Let's think. Isn't there anyone among those we know who thinks that all Muggle-borns should be banished from the school?" Ron pretended to be in deep contemplation, but his gaze slid aside, when Malfoy and his buddies choosed this particular moment to pass by us.

"You know, I wouldn't be surprised if you're right about it," I understood Ron's words faster than Harry and Hermione. "He would definitely fit the role. However..."

"Oh, no, Bella, not again, please!" Ron apparently recognized the doubtful expression in my face. "Don't start this nonsense about having no evidence."

"But I was right about Snape, wasn't I?" I retorted in sharper tone than I wanted. Ron cringed a bit, and I sighed. "Okay, let's say Malfoy is the heir of Slytherin. But, that night when Mrs. Norris got Petrified, Malfoy was in Great Hall. He could hardly be in two places at once. It just doesn't fit together, you know."

"His entire family always had been Sorted in Slytherin," Harry joined in. "It's very possible that they are posterity of Salazar Slytherin. His father absolutely might fit to this unpleasant role."

"Perhaps they're passing the secret of how to open the Chamber from father to son," Ron caught on. "We only have to prove it, like Bella says." He glanced at me. I nodded in agreement.

"I know that you would rather suspect all Slytherins, first of all Snape. But this is not how the things work. I'm sorry, Ron, I never said I like it, but that's just the way it is."

"How we're going to prove it?" Harry asked gloomy.

Sure thing, it had to be Hermione to come up with the craziest idea I have ever heard – to get a book from Restricted Section and brew a Polyjuice Potion to transform into three Slytherins and get into the common room to question Malfoy. I cannot deny I felt a bit rebuked when she specifically asked me to stay out of this as much as possible. To avoid any suspicions from Snape and rest of Slytherins, she said.

"Please, there must be something I can do!" I moaned in frustration.

"Of course, but the problem is that Snape and the others are well aware that we are friends. And – " Hermione paused, obviously unsure of how to say what she was about to say.

"Go on, it's okay," I encouraged her.

"Well, you're sort of attracting attention. You can't ask for permission to get that book, because you are too noticable," Hermione finished in a whisper, her cheeks blushing in shame.

"Yeah, blending in crowd sounds like a mission impossible," I agreed, then continued in bright tone, trying to make Hermione feel a bit better. "What _can _I do, then?"

"For now, keep your eyes and ears open among the Slytherins. Maybe Malfoy will be stupid enough to let something slip," Hermione regained her previous businesslike attitude as always when she set her mind up to something. "We'll take care of the rest, okay?"

I did not felt convinced enough, and I could see that Ron and Harry looked doubtful too, but neither of us said anything more. For now, at least.

However, from that moment on the things got only worse. In Hogwarts school, I mean.

Everything was relatively normal until the first Quidditch match. We all had a lot of emotionally strained moments, when Harry was chased by a Bludger that hunted particulary him as if being jinxed. In the end he caught the Snitch, much to Malfoy's disappointment, but not without a price – this time in form of broken arm. Lockhart be thrice damned for trying to fix it, which resulted with losing all bones Harry had in his right arm. Once again I witnessed the proof that Lockhart was a brainless git.

I used my priviledge to remain out of dormitory after curfew and spent the night next to Harry's bed, because Madam Pomfrey said that re-growing bones is very nasty and rough thing. Thankfully the nurse kept herself from arguing, clearly remembering the last year when all her attempts to get me out of here proved to be useless. Instead she Transfigured one of chairs into a sofa to make it more comfortable in case if I dozed off.

Harry's voice awakened me in the middle of night. I remained still, keeping my eyes closed, carefully listening with whom he was talking. When he mentioned name Dobby, I realized that it was the same house elf who tried to talk him out of returning to school. Dobby confessed to stand behind the blocked passage on platform nine and three quarters as well as jinxed Bludger, then he warned Harry that it was no longer safe in Hogwarts, since the Chamber of Secrets has been opened again, and tried to convice Harry of leaving.

"I'm not going anywhere!" Harry quietly exclaimed. "Two of my best friends are Muggle-borns, they will be first in line if the Chamber really has been opened. Bella's one of them," he added.

I carefully peeked through the eyelashes. Harry and house elf were looking at me. Dobby's big, green eyes filled with tears, when he turned to Harry again.

"Harry Potter risks his own life for his friends!" the elf moaned. "So noble! So valiant! But he must save himself, he must, Harry Potter must not – " Dobby suddenly went silent, his bat ears stretched up in alarm, when we all heard a sound of footsteps coming from the corridor outside, approaching hospital wing. "Dobby must go!" the elf gasped and vanished.

What happened next, I probably would never not be able to forget.

Harry jumped back in bed, pretending to be asleep, however I knew that he was wide awake, when the door opened and both Dumbledore and McGonagall came in, carrying something that looked like a statue. Under Headmaster's request, McGonagall rushed to fetch Madam Pomfrey. A short while later they both joined Dumbledore.

"There was a bunch of grapes found next to him," McGonagall whispered. "I believe he was trying to sneak up here to visit Potter."

My insides lurched. I sat up abruptly, letting them know I was awake. No one did told me to stay back, as I approached to the bed with statue, my legs trembling in fear to see someone I knew.

It was Colin Creevy, Gryffindor's first year who followed Harry wherever he went, totally idolizing him. His arms were lifted up in a gesture of defense, holding photo camera in front of his face.

"He's – what?" I asked in a strained whisper. "Petrified? Just like the cat?"

"I'm afraid so, Miss Swan," Dumbledore reached for the camera and carefully removed it from Colin's arms.

"Do you reckon he took a picture of attacker?" Professor McGonagall asked with a slight hope in her voice.

Dumbledore opened the back of camera. A jet of fumes shot upwards, filling the air with a smell of burnt plastic. There was a gasp of shock from Madam Pomfrey, but it was the only sound that followed. I risked a glance to Harry, who had rised up about an inch from his bed to see who was lying in the bed.

"Albus, what does this means?" McGonagall nervously asked.

"It means that our worst fear has become true, Minerva."

"What should I tell the staff?"

"The truth," Dumbledore sighed. "Tell them that Hogwarts is no safe anymore. The Chamber of Secrets indeed has been opened again."

"But who – who did that?" I asked, making both McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey to nearly jump, as if they had forgot about my presence.

"The question is not, _who_," Dumbledore answered, looking at Colin. "The real question is, _how_."

Neither of us said a word. I slowly turned and walked back to sofa, since there was nothing I could do to help. When Dumbledore and McGonagall left, Madam Pomfrey arranged curtains around Colin and returned to her office, looking more than simply worried. Her face was pale in fear.

"Any ideas what they were talking about?" Harry whispered.

"You mean, how the Chamber has been opened?" I shrugged. "No idea, but I hope we'll find it out soon."

Hermione's plan worked splendidly so far. A day before the Quidditch match she managed to get the recipe for Polyjuice Potion (by tricking Lockhart into signing the permission to get the book from Restricted Section). Then she broke into Snape's private stores to get very rare ingredients the potion required, while Harry created a little distraction in Potions class (too bad the Swelling Solution he blew up did not hit Snape's head – it would splendidly match his oversized, sarcastic ego). They choosed to brew the potion in the girl lavatory, right next to the bloody writing. Hermione claimed that no one would ever come in there, and she was right, because the lavatory was haunted by a very annoying ghost, Moaning Myrtle.

So far I listened Hermione's advice and stayed back from their plan. To our big disappointment no one in Slytherin house did not even mentioned the possible name of the heir. That inspired me to go to the library and try to dig up everything I could about Salazar Slytherin in hope to track down his family line. However this plan failed, because he lived a thousand years ago and his family has been extinct in the male line, which meant the name had died out. If he had any other descendants, they were called by other names, which I did not know and there was a little chance to track them. Even Madam Pince could not help me much.

There was one who could help me, but I could not force myself to go and ask him. It was rumoured that Snape owned a private library in his dungeons, which contained books that were not found in school's library. He also was a Head of Slytherin house. Maybe he would know something more about Salazar Slytherin's history.

After a week I decided to cut the pride out. I wanted, no, I had to do something useful. That Polyjuice Potion idea seemed rather tricky. Hermione had asked me to stay away from the lavatory to avoid anyone notice me. It could cause suspicions, so I had no choice but to agree. However it did not mean that I should sit with my hands folded in lap and do nothing. And so, in late Wednesday's evening I left the dormitory and headed straight to Snape's office.

He was there, as usual. Sometimes I wonder whether he ever gets some sleep or does he slumber in his own chair, resting his head on desk. The mental image was quite funny, helping to improve my mood, when I knocked at his door. He barked to enter, which I did, earning his usual cold stare and impatient sigh.

"Is anyone dying, Miss Swan?"

I paused. "N-no, sir."

"Then why you're not in common room or anywhere else, using your privilegue to wander around the castle after curfew?"

I suppressed an urge to roll my eyes and focused to the reason why I bothered to come here in first place. The permission I got from Dumbledore last year still was a very sore spot for Snape.

"Sir, I was wondering, do you know anything about Salazar Slytherin's family line?" It was hard to remain polite in Snape's presence, but I had a strong grip on myself, repeating in my mind that I should not give in the anger or whatever else I might feel. "I've been searching in library, but there's not much to even start with, so I thought that perhaps you could help me?"

Snape glared at me as if I just asked him to wear a pink dress and be the Queen of the ball along with Lockhart as the King.

"What makes you so foolishly think that I will provide you with such information?"

"Does that means you don't know anything about Salazar Slytherin?" I could not properly hide the tone of disappointment in my voice.

"I didn't say that, I'm just saying that is none of your business," Snape drawled, leaning back in his chair.

"Technically, it is my business. I'm kind of interested in person who made the house I've been sorted into," I casually shrugged.

Snape snorted and shook his head. "I'm afraid I cannot help you, Miss Swan. Now, if you don't mind, I do have another things to do than listening your senseless chatter." He stood up, emphasizing his words, and meaningly glanced at the door.

I did not moved an inch.

"So, you're not interested in who might be the heir? Or who's standing behind those attacks? If you failed to notice, there has been two by now."

"Do you actually believe that such Chamber actually exists, Miss Swan?" Snape smirked at me, his eyes gleamed strangely. "I would never think you can be so easily scared by some old myths. The school has been searched a hundred times, but nothing that even remotely could held some connection with Salazar Slytherin was ever found."

"Whoever attacked Mrs. Norris and Colin Creevy, he or she is headed for Muggle-borns. The sooner we figure out, who is the heir, the sooner we'll be able to stop those attacks! Perhaps you don't give a damn about it, because you're surely another pureblood who thinks that all Muggle-borns are scums who don't deserve to learn magic, but I do care about it, because I'm one of the kind that you and the rest of Slytherins are calling Mudbloods!"

This was the first time I called myself Mudblood. Snape's face became even more pale, nearly resembling a death mask. Few times he opened his mouth to say something, then closed it without uttering a sound. At some point I felt thankful that he stopped his attempts to read my mind, however _I _would not mind to be able to do Legilimency to read _his _thoughts right now.

"Do – not – use – that – word!" finally Snape hissed through gritted teeth.

If we were not standing so close to each other, I would probably missed a shadow of pain that flickered in his eyes. I blinked, and it was gone as soon as appeared.

"Everyone else uses that word. Why not you?" I managed to whisper, totally dumbfounded.

I have never been afraid of Snape, but when he suddenly crossed the distance between us and towered over me like a revengeful angel of death, my insides turned into ice.

"First of all, I'm a half-blood," he said in strained voice. "Second, I already mentioned that last year and nothing has changed since then, even if you're forgotten that in fact I DO care about the students, though they're a bunch of dunderheads, and I don't sort them by their families they were born into."

"Then would you mind to use your authority as House Head and tell Malfoy and the others to stop call Hermione and me Mudbloods?" I crossed my arms on chest. "If not, do not be surprised if anyone else suddenly will sprout an enlarged ears, because it was precisely of why I cursed Malfoy!"

There was a long pause, then Snape finally sighed. "I do not accept the cursing your housemates, but in this case the curse was rather – well-based. I will have a word with Mr. Malfoy, however do not expect him to be on his best behaviour right away. As for your interest in Salazar Slytherin, wait here," Snape turned and vanished behind wooden door at the left corner, half-hidden by a shelf. After a few minutes he returned with a large, tatty volume. "This is a history of Salazar Slytherin. The information you can find in here goes far beyond you can find in library books. Perhaps it will be useful, however I must warn you," he continued in cold voice, "if anything happens to this book, you will spend every evening in detention with Professor Lockhart till the end of year!"

"When you say 'the end of year', do you mean the end of calendar or school year?" I asked, innocently. Snape's eyes narrowed, but, recognizing it as a sure sign of oncoming trouble, I snatched the book out of his arms and grinned. "Thank you, Professor. I swear that no harm shall come upon this book!"

"You better see to it, Miss Swan!" Snape smirked again, but this time without a true malice. "Otherwise I'm sure Professor Lockhart would be most pleased to spend his evenings in your company."

"Someone should tell him that it's inappropiate to flirt with students," I murmured under my nose, walking to the door.

"What?" Snape exclaimed, and I turned to see his face full of shock and disgust. "He tried to flirt with you?"

"Well, 'tried' would be the operative word," I said, not really understanding the expression in Snape's face. "I made it clear that I'm not interested, though I'm not sure there are enough brains into that thick head of his to fully get the message. So what? It's my problem, not yours, isn't it?" with that I turned and walked out.

I was not quite sure of it, but as I closed the door behind me, there was a sound as if something hit the door from the other side and broke with a loud crash, accompanied by a very loud and rude curse. Against my own will, I could feel the corners of my lips turning upwards in restrained smile which grew bigger, no matter how hard I tried to suppress it, while tucking the large book in my bag.

Snape was raging because Lockhart had flirted with me. Now that was something new. If I did not know Snape, I would say he suddenly became jealous.


	6. Duel With Snape

**Chapter 6 – Duel with Snape**

Snape's given book was more useful – just like he claimed it to be – than information I found after many hours in library, however I still was no closer to know who could be the Heir of Slytherin. The last known name of Slytherin descendant was Peverell. After that, the trail abruptly ended. Still, I copied down most of information in another notebook, then I brought the book back to Snape. Thankfully, he did not asked whether I found anything. I think the answer was quite obvious in my disappointed face.

Couple of days later, after returning from Care of Magical Creatures lesson, I spotted my friends in Entrance Hall where a small crowd of students had gathered around the notice board. Harry caught my eyes and waved to come closer.

"They're starting a Dueling Club," he said. "The first meeting tonight. We already decided to go. What do you think?"

"Sounds great," I stretched my neck to read the notification over the heads of excited first year students. "At eight o'clock? Nice, see you there, then."

Since the weather was really wet (the grey clouds promised the snow at any moment, most likely tonight) and I looked like a drowned rat, I went down to the dungeons to change into warm, dry clothes before going to lunch. Dueling was one thing I did not worried about. Of course, having an extra skills would be great, but being able to do non-verbal magic had its advantages.

The day passed fast and shortly before eight o'clock I joined my friends in Entrance Hall and together we rushed to the Great Hall to the first meeting of the Dueling Club. A large podium, covered by dark blue fabric with golden symbols (which probably indicated the position of combatants) stood in the center of the hall, enlightened by thousands of candles, floating in the air above our heads. Nearly entire school had gathered around the stage, carrying their wands, waiting in anticipation for the meeting to begin.

"Oh, no!" I moaned, when Lockhart appeared on the stage. "You've got to be kidding!"

"You think this is bad?" Ron whispered, nudging me in ribs and nodding to the other side of stage. "Better take a look who else is here!"

Before I could turn to see to whom Ron was pointing, Lockhart already introduced us with his assistant – Professor Snape. I could not help but chuckle.

"Look at Snape," I whispered to Ron and Harry. "Someone should tell Lockhart that he should run for his life right now, if he wants to live another day."

"Now, I don't want any of you youngsters to worry – you'll still have your Potions Master when I'm through with him, never fear," Lockhart announced, then pulled his wand out, and both Professors walked along the stage to meet at the center.

"It's obvious that we'll have the Potions Master, but I'm not so sure about the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," I muttered, watching how they both held up their wands, curtly bowed against each other, then spun around and marched each to one end of stage. There they turned to face the opponent and raised their wands in battle position.

Suddenly I felt a strange urge to jump up on stage and stand between them. And it was not Lockhart's safety that worried me. Nothing but knowledge that Lockhart was a clodhopper held me on place, because I feared for Snape! The feeling was strong enough to make me to ball my fists, digging nails painfully into palms to remain where I was.

Wait a minute, where did this came from? Since when I cared about Snape? I inhaled deeply and forced myself to get a grip. Had I gone totally mental? Lucky for me, neither of my friends noticed the worry that had taken me over for a short moment. It would be embarassing, if they would misinterpret it as a fear for Lockhart. I shuddered, only imagining it.

"One, two, three!" Lockhart counted, then slightly raised his wand, but Snape was faster.

"_Expelliarmus_!" he shouted and slashed the air with his wand.

A jet of bloody red light shot out of Snape's wand and hit Lockhart straight in chest. I grinned wickedly, when DADA Professor was thrown off his feet and landed on his back with a nasty thud. Snape stood, a smug grin on his face. I glanced up at him and, catching the moment when our eyes met for a second, showed him 'thumbs up' gesture to which Snape's face remained calm and emotionless, but meanwhile Lockhart was back on his feet. The hit had a zero effect to his attitude which had not improved. His next words confirmed it.

"If I had wanted to stop you, it would have been only too easy!" He even smiled at Snape.

How stupid should one person be to brag like that? I mean, was he really blind? It was obvious that Snape would love to feed Lockhart with the strongest poison he could brew.

"Perhaps it would be prudent to first teach the students to block unfriendly spells, Professor," Snape innocently answered.

Lockhart got muddled, but only for a second. "An excellent suggestion, Professor Snape! Let's have a volunteer pair!" his eyes swept over the crowd and paused at me. "Ah, Miss Swan, how about you? Perhaps you could duel with – " he looked around, then noticed Hermione who stood next to me, " –Miss Granger. Ladies, please, this way!"

We moved through the crowd to the steps at the end of stage. I reached the steps first and went up, but then an idea came into my mind. I turned to Hermione and shook my head, motioning her to stop. She paused, frowning, unsure of what to do. I winked at her, which made her even more confused as well as those behind her.

"Professor Lockhart, I've got a better idea!" I spun around and gave Lockhart the sweetest smile I could muster. He smiled back and nodded for me to continue. "I know I'm only a second year student, however I find it rather inappropiate to duel with a child. Maybe you could give me permission to duel with someone of my own choosing?"

Lockhart once again proved himself to be absolutely brainless git. He smiled even wider and permitted me to pick up anyone from the crowd. What he did not know was that it was not my intend to duel with any of students. Perhaps I was insane, but I wanted to test myself and therefore a duel with another student would just not do.

"Here, take this," Lockhart pulled his glove off (I had a bad feeling it was perfumed) and handed to me. "Throw it at your choosed opponent's feet. It's a traditional way how to challenge someone out to duel."

I took the glove and walked along the whole length of the stage, coming to a halt only when I reached the other end where Snape stood. I slowly looked around the crowd of Slytherins, for a second pausing at Malfoy, whose eyes widened when I frowned, pretending to consider his candidature. After torturing Malfoy for a half-minute, I turned my back on him and stood in front of Snape.

"Have a trouble of choosing?" Snape smirked. "Perhaps I might help you?"

"Well, now that you mention it – " With a gracious gesture I raised my arm and released fingers, letting the glove fall down straight on Snape's black shoes.

A shocked whispering swept over the Great Hall. The loudest gasping came from those Gryffindors and Slytherins who witnessed how I stood up against Severus Snape in our very first Potions class. They had seen my temper and now they were curious how this duel would end.

"You can't be serious, Miss Swan!" Snape snarled through clenched teeth. "I will not duel with a student who doesn't even know the basic defensive spells."

He stepped back, but I only grinned inwardly, because he acted just like I suspected him to do. Maybe I had some Slytherin qualities after all. Two could play this game. And I knew how to kick where it hurts the most.

"Professor Snape, are you saying you're backing away from the fight?" I exclaimed in a fake surprise. "Wow, who would know that you're such a coward! Fine," I sighed and shrugged in mock defeat, "I'll find someone with a real courage, like Professor Lockhart, perhaps?"

For a moment I was certain that Snape is going to kill me where I stood for insulting him in front of entire school. I have seen him angry before, but it was nothing in comparison with a deadly glare I received now. Snape's jaw muscles twitched and his fingers gripped the wand so tight that his knuckles turned white.

"As you wish, Miss Swan," his voice was barely louder than a whisper, but it was filled with a menace that sent a chill down my spine.

At any other circumstances, this would be the moment to start the run for my life. And I would just that – if I did not provoked Snape to this deliberately. We both stood in the center of podium and repeated the procedure of greeting the opponent as both Professors demonstrated earlier.

When we reached the position at the ends of stage, I focused my eyes on Snape and watched his every move, concentrating on the spell that Snape cast at Whomping Willow – after a bit of reading I found out that it was a Shield Charm, able to protect the caster against most of spells. From what I read, it could be used also non-verbally.

"Ready?" Lockhart called, then start to count. "One... two... three!"

"_Expelliarmus!_" Snape once again used Disarming spell.

_Protego!_ I flicked my wand when the flash from Snape's wand shot in my direction. Before he could blink, Disarming spell bounced against my non-verbal Shield Charm and hit Snape himself. The Potions Master did not expected it, and in result he was knocked off his feet.

Everyone gasped in surprise, but I paid zero attention to them, remaining in position, my wand ready, while Snape tried to stand. As soon as he did, resuming his position, I waited for Lockhart's signal, then I shot another non-verbal spell, choosing Impediment Jinx.

Once again Snape got hit, unable to block this spell in time, however his reflexes were better this time and he kept his balance. Snape bared his teeth in anger and raised his wand. I conjured a Shield again, and it was a good choice, because whatever spell he used, it was non-verbal too. Within seconds we both were engaged in rather vicious battle.

Bright jets of light shot from our wands, during our duel. A few times I was forced to dodge his spells, casting some of my own in response. Some of them he managed to block, some not. The students stepped back to give us more space. Even Lockhart jumped down from the stage after one of Snape's hexes shot very near his head. He retreated to the furthest wall, nervously watching this unusual duel.

Eventually I decided to finish our duel with a quick combination of _Stupefy_ and _Ascendio_ that fiercely hit Snape straight in chest. The force of both spells threw him across the room. The Potions Master hit the wall with a loud thud and collapsed on the floor, panting heavily.

A few Slytherin students rushed to their House Head, but Snape coldly rejected their help and struggled to stand up, a bit dizzy after crash. I felt a bit guilty, but it quickly vanished as soon as I saw the deadly glare in his eyes. My instincts practically screamed to turn around and run for my life, but cold fear had paralyzed my legs. I did not moved an inch.

Snape stepped back on podium. This time I knew he was aiming to kill. Without warning Snape sharply flicked his wand, instinctively I did the same.

Bloody red jets shot from both wands, but when there was an inch left between, both light streams suddenly bursted out in bright silver light. At the same moment a strange sound echoed in hall, like a horse neigh. It was both the happiest and also the saddest sound I have ever heard, which bursted through my veins, reaching into deepest corners of soul.

I risked a quick glance at Snape who also stood, shocked and shaken. Our eyes met, and in that instant I realized that he too has no idea of what just happened. Whatever spell he used against me, it was not the outcome he expected to see.

"Excellent, absolutely brilliant, I think it's enough!" Lockhart finally regained his wits and jumped back on stage before any of us decided to continue our attempts to blast each other apart. "I think we should all give applause to Miss Swan and Professor Snape for such amazing duel demonstration!"

The look in Snape's eyes clearly said it was something much more than a simple demonstration, however he said nothing.

"Bella, you were brilliant!" Ron gaped at me in awe as I returned to my friends. "Bloddy hell, it was incredible!"

"Now I see why you stopped me from duel," Hermione shook her head in disbelief. "I'm not so good in spells. And I heard that Snape is an expert in Dark Arts."

"Do you really think I would have gone so hard on you?" I smiled, but then our attention was caught by Lockhart who invited another pair of volunteers, this time he choosed Harry and Ron, but Snape intervened, suggesting Malfoy as better partner for Harry, because 'Weasley's wand causes devastations with the simpliest spells' and 'we'll be sending Potter to the hospital wing in a matchbox'.

Malfoy and Harry stood on the stage, facing each other.

"Scared, Potter?" Malfoy whispered, when they both raised their wands up.

"You wish," Harry hissed back, then they turned around and walked away, taking the positions.

Ron, Hermione and I nervously watched them casting spells at each other, both in turn successfully hitting the other. And then – everything changed.

Malfoy shouted another spell, conjuring a snake. It moved along the stage, hissing in anger, ready to attack. I grabbed Hermione and Ron by their collars and pulled them backwards, away from the cobra. Snape walked forward, saying that he will get a rid of it, but – of course – Lockhart once again tried to be a stopper for all bottles at once.

He brandished his wand at cobra, but it did not vanished. Instead the reptile flew at least six feet up in the air and fell back on stage. I could not blame the snake for being extremely angry now. After such flight and quite painful landing, I would be pissed off too.

The snake turned to a Hufflepuff student who stood next to me, Justin Finch-Fletchley, but before anyone could say a word, it was Harry who suddenly moved forward. He stared at the snake and opened his mouth, but the sounds that came out were not in English.

"_Sya hassa she_," he hissed, but the snake continued to advance on Justin. "_Sya hassi heth_! _Sya hassi heth_!"

The snake released another hiss, then turned to Harry and closed its mouth, only once in a while flicking its tongue in and out. Strangely enough, there was no sign of aggression anymore. However no one looked happy or relieved even when Snape raised his wand, making the snake to dissolve in a black smoke.

"What are you playing at?" Justin exclaimed, trembling in fear and anger.

Harry blinked in confusion. I noticed that Snape stared at him in disbelief. The rest of students looked scared. But the weirdest thing was that it seemed that Harry himself has no idea that he just did something strange. He was just as confused about the others reaction as they were about his.

Ron and Hermione grabbed Harry by his sleeves and dragged out of hall as soon as he climbed down from the stage – the students jumped back as if afraid that Harry might attack them or else. I shot one glance at Malfoy, then at Snape, and rushed after my friends.

I caught up with them only half-way to the Gryffindor tower. Seeing me, Ron changed direction and headed to an empty classroom, dragging Harry with him, while Hermione and I hurried after them. after closing the door, I turned to them.

"Okay, what the hell was that?" I panted, after the long run upstairs, but no one heard it.

"You're a Parselmouth!" Ron said, after pushing Harry down in one of seats. "You can talk to snakes!"

"I know!" Harry shrugged. "Once I accidentally set a python on my cousin Dudley at the zoo. So what? I bet loads of people here can do that!"

"No, they can't!" Hermione shook her head. "It's a very rare gift, and it's bad, very bad!"

"Look, if I hadn't told that snake not to attack Justin – "

"Oh, that's what you said to it!" Ron did not looked relieved, however.

"You were there, you heard me!" Harry looked rather angry, still not quite understanding the situation. But I did.

"Harry," I carefully spoke. "You spoke in a snake language. And no one could understand it. I must admit, it sounded a bit scary. As if you were egging the snake on. I know you didn't, but – "

"I – spoke in a different language?" Harry's eyes widened in shock. "But I – I didn't realize that – how it's possible to speak in a language you don't even know?"

"I don't know, but – Harry, there is a reason why the symbol of Slytherin house is a serpent," said Hermione.

"Salazar Slytherin was a Parselmouth," I suddenly remembered what I read about him in Snape's book. "He could speak to snakes, too. I did a lot of reading about him, trying to figure out who could be his Heir," I added, when all three glanced at me, a bit surprised.

"Bella's right. Now the whole school's gonna think that you're his great-great-great- grandson, or something," Ron nervously said.

"But I'm not!" Harry exclaimed. Then he added quietly, "I can't be – just can't – "

"He lived a thousand years ago," Hermione sighed. "For all we know, you could be."

A dreadful silence laid over the room. I had nothing to say to comfort Harry, who appeared shocked about his possible relation with Slytherin, because deep in my heart I knew that Hermione could be right. However now it gave me another lead. I lost the track of Slytherin _descendants _at Peverell name, now I could restart the searching to the other direction, tracking down the _ancestors _of Potter name.

"Harry, don't you worry, okay?" eventually I decided to cut the silence. "You know what happened there, and so do we. It doesn't matter what the others might say or think. You're not the Heir of Slytherin, otherwise the Sorting Hat would have never put you in Gryffindor. Soon we will figure out who the real Heir is."

It was a small comfort, I knew that, considering what Harry would have to endure in following days, but at the moment it was better than nothing.


	7. Unexpected Proposal

Chapter 7 – Unexpected Proposal

After literally wiping the floor with Professor Snape, my popularity had raised highly. Even some of Slytherins were patting on my shoulder and showing some respect. Not every second year student, no matter how old, was able to match up with a teacher.

But I was more concerned about Harry's ability to speak in Parseltongue. Just like I feared, most of students now thought that _he _was heir of Slytherin. Personally I thought it was rubbish, but rumours and suspicions were spreading faster than fire in dry grass.

Only next day after the Dueling Club meeting, another Petrified student was found – Justin Finch-Fletchey. What scared everyone most was that a Gryffindor ghost, Nearly-Headless-Nick was found at the scene too, motionless and blackened. The students were nervous enough even before, but now they were driven into a sheer panic. Those, who had not bought the tickets yet to go home with Hogwarts Express, now lined up to not to stay in school for Christmas.

Harry, Hermione and entire Weasley family choosed to spend the holidays in school. I already provided them with information that Malfoy and his bullies were staying too. Hermione planned to put her plan with Polyjuice Potion in action in Christmas break, because it was a perfect opportunity to avoid being caught.

"Come on, Harry, don't pay attention on them," I told him as we went to dinner after particulary rough day. "People tend to exaggerate things."

Harry sighed and did not answered. He strode forward, his shoulders hunched, trying to not attract attention. Not that I blame him. Wherever he went, everyone whispered behind his back, avoided him in corridors as if he could sprout a pair of venomous fangs and attack them right away.

This was the last day before the holidays. Ron and Hermione already went to dinner. Harry held back in Potions class, because he had to clean up his table (Malfoy intentionally splashed a jar of toad liver over Harry's seat when Snape turned his back to class for a second). I helped him to clean the mess and then we walked to the Great Hall together.

We were about to enter the Great Hall, when suddenly someone's hand gripped my shoulder in firm grip.

"Miss Swan, come with me. Now!"

Uh-oh, guess I was in trouble. Risking to take a glance at Severus Snape, I could see his eyes narrowing dangerously. Great, the Big Dungeons Bat had one of his Bad Days. When he had Good Days, Snape was merely sarcastic and cold. The Bad Day, like now, meant that he was ready to snap someone's head off. Looks like today the head about to be snapped is mine.

"Potter, go to your classmates!" Snape ordered, then he pointed toward the stairs, leading to dungeons. "Let's go, Miss Swan!"

"See you later, Harry!" I called over my shoulder, when Snape slightly pushed me again, when I hesitated too long.

For once I was in no mood for fighting. My curiousity got the best of me – what could be so important that he wanted to speak in private? Maybe he finally decided to pick his revenge for the duel?

Perhaps I will be lucky to get away only with another detention. The question is – how long it will last this time. Previously it lasted for a month after one Potion lesson. After cleaning our desks, I filled my cauldron with icy cold water and splashed it all upon Draco's head – it was a small, but pleasant revenge for him throwing stickleback eyes at Harry and Ron. Of course, Snape saw it and immediately put me on detention, thankfully not with Lockhart. Instead, I had to clean Snape's private laboratory for a month without magic.

When we reached Snape's office, he pulled the door open and pushed me inside, gesturing to sit down in one of chairs. Then he firmly closed the door, crossed the room and sat in front of me. This situation was nothing new to me. Whenever I came here, we both sat in the same chairs, in the same office, and the conversation rarely ended nicely.

"I suppose you are very proud of yourself," Snape drawled. "You beat me in Wizarding duel. Well, Miss Swan, congratulations! I reckon you threw a good party to celebrate it with your little Gryffindor friends?"

Here we go again! Was he even able to speak normally, without insulting the other person every five seconds? I swear one day I will hang him in Whomping Willow upside down. If he would not kill me first, that is.

"Is that what you wanted to talk about, sir?" I forced myself to stay calm and polite.

"Not really, however it became the reason of why I want to talk to you."

"Oh," I nodded, because it was the only thing I could do without any risk to my own life. Okay, since I was going to hell anyway, might as well go down with the music. "Well, perhaps I shouldn't say this, because your ego might swell up to the point of exploding, but – it was a great honour to duel with you!"

Snape's eyebrows shot upwards in mocked surprise. Since he could not read my thoughts, he did not know that I was telling the truth. It was undeniable that Snape was an amazing duelant. He really gave me a hard time back there.

"Oh, really?" Snape quietly drawled. "Anything else you wish to tell me while you're in such open-hearted state?"

"Well, yeah. I apologize for what I said. I want you to know that none of it was meant to be serious. I said that only to make you accept the challenge to duel."

"I would suggest you to be more careful with what you're saying, Miss Swan. Some people might not be able to tell difference, when you speak seriously, when not."

"Like you? I mean, you were unable to tell this difference."

"And it also was very foul and ignoble action from your part."

That I could not deny. No matter how much Snape irritated me most of times, I knew he was right about this.

"If you really wanted to get in a mortal combat with me, all you had to do was ask nicely. Or you were too _scared_?" Snape threw my own words back into my face.

I rolled my eyes. This verbal combat was getting rather old.

"I'm not afraid of rodents, Professor Batman!" I replied casually, knowing that Snape probably never heard about this popular Muggle comic character.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Snape grinned, much to my astonishment. "If I recall, Batman was a hero, who hid behind the mask, saving innocent people without revealing his true identity. Funny that you compare me with him, but – " he continued in more matter-of-fact tone, "as intriguing as it may be, I'd like to return to why I called you here."

I was too shocked by revelation that Snape – Severus Snape! – is aware of Muggle children comic book characters, so I merely nodded in response.

"I want to discuss your future education in Hogwarts," Snape said. "And I strictly demand you to keep this conversation between us. I hope you are able to restrain from prattling."

"You know that _I am_!" I huffed, a bit annoyed. Indeed, I kept a lot of things about Snape at myself, including our chat in Astronomy Tower last year and also the fact that he is an expert Legilimens.

"No, I don't know that," he spat venomously.

"You wouldn't bother to talk to me here and now, if you had a slightest doubt that I could let something slip."

Snape's eyes were like unreadable, black abysses. I stared back, keeping my chin straight up, waiting. Finally he smirked, but this time it was more like an amused grin.

"Clever as always, Miss Swan. Very well," he flicked his wand toward the door and I heard the lock clicking.

"Hey! What was that for?" I exclaimed, my fingers wrapping around the wand in my pocket, just in case.

"I'd rather avoid any disturbance," Snape shortly replied, then he straightened up in his chair. "So, I had a rather interesting conversation with Professor Dumbledore, who seemed rather pleased to inform me that you had learned the spells far beyond second year's curriculum since the last year." I shifted uncomfortably, but Snape ignored it and continued. "While I'm not particulary fond of your... self-education, it seems that you have a potential, considering that you managed successfully perform various rather difficult spells that even some of seventh year students cannot properly master."

"Now _that _is a compliment," I grinned, but Snape ignored my remark and went on.

"Professor Dumbledore seems to be confident that in spite your lack of knowledge in magic, your skills are adequate to your age. As such, he suggested that apart from normal studies you should take private, advanced lessons in magic."

"Wow," I gasped. "That's great! And who will teach me?"

"Me," Snape simply answered.

"What?"

"After Professor Dumbledore's request, of course. He practically insisted that I should be the one to teach you. Still, it's up to you whether you want me to teach you, again after Headmaster's suggestion. He thinks you deserve a chance to make your own choice."

I considered that for a moment. The idea of having Severus Snape as my private teacher was very tempting, especially now. Being close to him could give me a better chance to figure out something more about this Slytherin Heir's mess – or at least I hoped so. And having a chance to get an advanced education in this whole magical thing, well, that was even more tempting. I gave him an excited smile.

"That would be great unless – " I hesitated as a sudden thought crossed my mind.

Could it be that he was offering to teach me _only _because Dumbledore told him to? Maybe he secretly loathed this idea, but simply had no other choice. That was depressing thought, I knew that from my own personal experience, having a very little choice last year myself. However it may be, I had to find his true motives before agreeing to anything.

"Unless what, Miss Swan?"

"Well, I don't like idea about you teaching me against your own will by Headmaster's orders. Don't get me wrong, I would love to learn advanced magic, but only if you are okay with it."

Snape quirked his eyebrow. If I did not know better, I would say he was surprised. And this time it was a genuine surprise.

"I assure you, Miss Swan, if I had no interest in teaching you, I wouldn't even discuss the mere possibility of our lessons with you."

"So, you're not offering this only because – "

"Miss Swan, I'm saying it for the last time," now Snape sounded really annoyed, "I do not mind to teach you. However, do not expect to launch at major spells or potions right away. We will start with fourth and fifth year curriculum."

"Okay," I agreed.

"And, just one more thing. I expect a full devotion from any of my students. The same thing I expect from you as soon as we start our lessons." Snape paused a bit, then added. "I understand that it's a major decision to make. I'll give you the time till the end of the holidays. In last day of winter break, I would expect to hear what choice have you made."

"What did Snape wanted from you?" Harry asked, when I returned from the dungeons and finally sat down with my friends – since tomorrow most of students were leaving, no one really paid attention to where I was sitting.

"Oh, like always," I shrugged, filling my plate with French fries. "Once again tested my patience. Seems that our duel has become a sore spot for his oversized ego."

"Was he mean to you?" Hermione asked with sympathy in her voice.

"Nah, merely sarcastic," I shook my head, glancing at the High Table where Snape took his seat. "But I guess it's his normal behaviour. I would rather start to worry if he would suddenly behave all nice and sweet."

"Greasy git," Ron murmured under his nose, glaring at Snape. "Wonder why he choosed to work as teacher, considering his attitude to the students?"

"Good point," I took a large sip from glass with pumpkin juice, then attacked the steak, because my stomach rumbled so loud I was certain everyone could hear it. "However, as a teacher he's not so bad. I mean, he doesn't like the kids, but I cannot deny that he is good at what he's teaching."

"True," Hermione agreed. "He is a brilliant Potions Master, the only problem is that he's favoring Slytherins too much."

"Not me, so far," I grinned, squinting at Snape.

It was not too hard to keep the promise not to tell anyone about what we were talking in his office. Knowing Snape's attitude towards me, no one would believe that he could willingly tolerate my presence, so even if I would agree to those private lessons, it would cause no suspicions. The others would probably think he was giving me an extra detentions.

We finished the meal, then both boys went to the common room, while Hermione and I did a bit more of studying in library. While I wandered among the shelves, trying to pick up something to read later in dormitory, Hermione sat at the window, finishing the essey for Transfiguration.

"I can't stop thinking about that voice," I pulled out a thick volume about Animagus and joined Hermione. "At first I thought that perhaps Harry was merely having a hallucinations, but he did heard the voice a seconds before each attack. It's more than a mere coincidence, don't you think?"

"I know," Hermione thoughtfully drawled, rolling up the parchment with her freshly dried homework. "But whom the voice belongs? And why no one else ever heard it?"

"I have a feeling that it's the key answer we must find," I glanced at thousands of books around us. "If only I knew where to start."

"Any luck with the Heir?"

"No, not so far. I tried to track down the Potter family line, but no luck so far," I sighed. "And Slytherin line ends with the Peverell name. How it's going with Polyjuice Potion?"

"Splendid!" Hermione smiled. "It's almost ready. I think it should be ready at Christmas Eve."

"I'll see what I can do – without attracting attention. Oh, remind me to give you the password. I heard they're planning to change it for holidays."

"It's actually very bad that you cannot enter our common room. Would be nice to spend an evenings together," Hermione sadly said, when I escorted her back to the Gryffindor Tower.

"Perhaps they should make sort of interhouse common room," I suggested. "You know, a place where the students from all houses could come together, sit at fireplace and simply spend the time together."

"That would be so great!" Hermione's eyes lit up at idea. "Maybe we should ask around and organize the sign-in. If we could collect enough signatures and give the suggestion to Professor Dumbledore – "

" – he would accept it," I finished the thought. "Well, I think we could do that. Not in this year, though, because everyone is too worried about that Chamber and attacks, but for the next school year – why not?"

We parted on this enticing note and went our separate ways. To not forget this idea, I quickly wrote it down in notebook, then jogged down the stairs, already planning to whom I should mention this idea. There were a few Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, but I was not so sure whether any of Slytherins should be involved.

In spite of all terrible events in school, a bright spark of hope for the future made me feel better.


	8. The Christmas Gift

Chapter 8 – The Christmas Gift

Christmas holiday was finally here. In spite of all terrible events, I welcomed this festive time with a genuine joy. Hermione had nearly finished the brewing of Polyjuice Potion. I supplied her with a couple of Slytherin school forms that I stole from the laundry room. She turned down my offer to get her some female hair – she claimed to already have one from Millicent Bulstrode.

My part in their plan was simple – I had to stay away from Slytherin common room while they were questioning Malfoy – knowing our "friendly" relationship, Hermione was certain he will never say anything important in my presence. Even Disillusionment was out of question – she did not wanted to take any chances. At first I was slightly offended for not being allowed to help, but now, thanks to Snape, my mind was occupied by the other things.

Since Snape made the offer, I have been thinking about it every day and night, weighing all the pros and cons, until I realized that I was fooling myself by trying to figure out whether or not I should agree. Of course, I wanted to take those lessons. If that meant I should endure his sarcasm and annoying remarks about my friends, it was a small price to pay for what I would gain in return.

As soon as I made up my mind, I decided to risk and do something I wanted to do since the last year. The idea itself was so crazy that I told nothing even to my friends, because they would undoubtly think I had lost my mind.

The eldest students who had a permission, signed by their parents, every weekend could visit Hogsmeade, the small adjancent wizarding village. I did not need the permission due to being of age, but never did I went there. Now I had a reason for it. I had to find there an appropiate gifts for my friends and – for Professor Snape.

Fred and George had talked my ears full of wonderful stores in Hogsmeade. From what they told me, I was under impression that there might be found everything I needed. The day before Christmas I finally decided to pay a visit to the village for the first time. Right after the breakfast, I dressed up in warm clothes, took my bag and rushed out of castle, deeply inhaling cold winter air.

Someone, presumably Hagrid, had cleared the road to the village. Or maybe it was just another magic. Whatever, I did not cared anymore about such small things. Near the school gates, I spotted Fred and George who were going the same way, or it seemed so. Good, at least I will have a nice company. The twins with their behaviour and trivial attitude to the life as such always could improve the mood of everyone who had the slightest sense of humour.

Suddenly I felt kind of light-minded, so I cast Disillusionment and crept up from behind, imperceptibly sliding between them.

"Hey, boys!" I called out in cracky, low voice. "Nice day for a walk, isn't it?"

This was probably the first time when the twins actually freaked out. Fred dove aside, ending up with his head inside of the heap of snow. George shrieked and tried to pull out his wand, but become entangled within his own scarf. Desperately trying to get his arms free, he stumbled backwards and tripped over Fred, who just managed to crawl out of snowdrift and was forced to disappear into it once again, this time accompanied by his twin brother.

I doubled over in laughter while the twins wriggled fervently, looking like a pair of snowmen, covered by a thick layer of snow which also created sort of pyramid on top of their hats. When they finally managed to stand back on their feet, wands at the ready, I removed the Disillusionment Charm.

"Bloody hell! I nearly got a heart attack!" George clasped hand over his heart, lowering his wand. "I thought you're the Slytherin monster – " he paused abruptly, realizing the double meaning of his words.

"Okay, that's it!" I bared my teeth and slowly, menacingly advanced on George. "You revealed my secret, mortal! Now, prepare yourself to perish!" I growled and lounged at him, tackling him down in another snowdrift.

Fred stood, perplexed, then joined our acted wrestling. Now there were two of them against one of me. Soon I found myself, pinned down over my head in snow. Both twins grinned from ear to ear, holding me firmly against the ground.

"So, Fred, looks like we captured the legendary monster of Slytherin!" George said. "What should we do about her?"

"Well, if she promise to behave and not to Petrify us, I think we could release her, George!" Fred happily answered, then turned to me. "What do you say, Bells? Shall we release you?"

"I solemny swear to not Petrify any of you!" I lowered my voice to a dreadful hiss, pretending to speak like a monster from Muggle horror movie. "If you help me to stand up, mortals, you shall be spared from my wrath!"

"Deal!" they both exclaimed at once and pulled me up.

"You, gits!" I laughed, brushing the snow off my clothes. "Were you going to Hogsmeade?"

"We did, until someone tried to scare us to death. So, you finally decided to have a trip to Hogsmeade too?" Fred smiled, as we continued to walk together.

"Something like that. Listen, I'm going to hunt down the presents for my friends. Any ideas?"

"Well, "Honeydukes" has the largest sortiment of sweets, I guarantee you never seen and tasted anything like it. And "Zonko" is perfect place if you're searching for practical pranks."

I memorized the names of both stores, however it was not quite what I wanted. "What about a bit more practical stuff?"

Fred counted off few more stores, where I could have a chance to find what I need. Then we discussed a bit the last Quidditch game and possessed Bludger, but the rest of time laughed our heads off at Lockheart. Fred and George praised me for duel with Snape until I blushed. They made it sound as if I did some kind of heroic stuff.

When we finally reached Hogsmeade, our paths went in separate direction. After loading my bag with various sweets and paying a visit to Zonko (now I know where our local school terorists are getting their supplies to test Filch's nerve system), I slowly strolled through the rest of shops until finally found a nice gift to Snape. It was nothing big, but I hoped that maybe he does have at least a tiniest bit of humour.

After finishing the shopping, I met the twins again. They dragged me into a small pub, called "Three Broomsticks", where we drank a cup of butterbear to get warm. Then I went back to Hogwarts, while the twins held back in Zonko. I suspected that Filch soon will have a very stressful time.

On my way back, the snow start to fall. When I reached the Entrance hall, I quickly cast a jet of hot air from my wand to dry myself before Filch start to yell about puddles on floor. He was in a short temper lately. Clearing the last melting snow drop, I rushed to the Slytherin common room to enwrap my gifts and get them, except for one, to the Gryffindor tower, using a help of house elf.

In the next morning I woke up early, quickly dressed up and opened the presents, piled at the end of my bed. Harry and Ron each sent me a huge box with sweets which I hid in my trunk for later, but Hermione's gift was a whole volume with books about curses and countercurses. Overlooking its contents, I noticed a lot of useful things. I took one of books and put aside to show it to Snape to hear his opinion.

Jacob Black sent me his own made dream-catcher which I hung above my bed and placed repelling charm on it so my roommates would not dare to touch it. But Renee and Charlie sent me a gift from them both – selection of my favourite authors works. There were Shakespeare, Ostin and Bronti works as well as poems by Robert Frost. I noticed that poems were in two copies – I could only imagine that they bought the same book, not knowing that the other already had bought it.

Hmm, perhaps, I could add one copy to Snape's gift which I thankfully had not wrapped yet. He might not be a Muggle poem fan, but – who cares? It was worth the risk. I reached for my trunk and took out a box I bought yesterday in Hogsmeade, wrapped it in silver paper along with the book, took a deep breath, counted to ten and practically run out of dormitory, before I lost my nerve. In worst case I would not have to worry about what to do while Harry, Ron and Hermione are playing Slytherins – I would not be able to show up in common room until Snape's urge to strangle me dissolves.

Only when I run into the corridor, I realized that Snape's current location is unknown. He could be anywhere. I decided to start with his office, not quite believing he would be there so early. Maybe some house elf could tell me where to search for Potions Master in case if I would not be able find him on my own.

I paused at Snape's office door and knocked, holding my breath. I was certain there is nobody inside, so when Snape's angry voice said to enter, my heart almost jumped out of my chest. Deep breath in and out, then I turned the doorknob and went inside.

Snape stood at one of many shelves with his back turned to me, overlooking uncountable glass jars and scribbling notes on parchment, as if doing sort of stocktaking. Maybe so it was. I fidgeted, unsure of what to do.

"What do you want?" Snape barked, without turning around.

"Er, Professor Snape? Sorry to disturb you..."

Upon hearing my voice, Snape spun around, almost knocking a pair of phials off the shelf. "Miss Swan? Has something happened for you to be up so early?"

"I came to let you know my decision about our private lessons," I went down to less important reason why I was here. "My answer is – yes! I agree!"

"You still have time. Till the end of holiday, remember?" Snape dryly said.

"I know, but I already considered everything up and down. Those few days won't change anything. Oh, by the way, I would like to know your opinion about this volume, sir."

"You can't be serious, Miss Swan. If this is one of those silly, pathetic romance books – " Snape growled, but glanced at book. Reading its title, his face changed immediately. "Hmm, I must say I'm impressed. This volume will be very useful in our lessons. You can safely acquire this material already. Did you found them in Hogwarts library?"

"No, it's a gift from Hermione. She knows that I'm interested into learning spells of my own."

Snape nodded, overlooking one of books, then handed it back to me.

"Very well. Our first lesson will be in first Saturday of January. Ten o'clock in morning, in this office. Take those books with you. Anything else?"

Okay, it was now or never.

I made a step forward and handed Snape his present. "Merry Christmas, Professor!"

Snape's black eyes narrowed while he scrutinized package as if unsure what is it and what to do with it. I suddenly realized that maybe this is first time when a student gives him present. Knowing his harsh temper, it was very likely. For a moment I felt sorry for him, but tried to keep my face calm, otherwise Snape would start to rage if he noticed that he was pitied.

Finally Snape reached out and grabbed the small package. He turned it in hands, observing from all sides, then pulled out his wand and waved it across the gift, murmuring something. I could tell he was checking if there was anything cursed inside.

"I haven't hexed it, Professor. You can safely open in. It's nothing much, but I hope you can find it useful."

Snape sharply glared at me, then slowly untied the green ribbon and removed silver paper, revealing longish wood box and the book. At first, he lifted the lid off the box and stared motionlessly at the black quill which laid on green velvet, then he took it in two fingers and lifted out.

"What is that?" Snape quietly asked. He did not sounded angry. Usually it was very obvious when Snape's tone promised trouble. Right now he sounded rather surprised.

"It's Dictoquill. All you have to do is dictate the words, the quill will write them down itself. It writes with both black and red ink. You can use it not only for personal notes, but to mark essays and homeworks as well. Oh, and it's self-refilling."

Snape's mouth corners twitched as if he was about to smile. I felt relieved for not being hexed or poisioned yet, and I dared to smile back at my teacher.

"Very thoughtful gift, Miss Swan. And what is this?" Snape frowned, then opened the book at random page and to my surprise read aloud one of poems:

_Some say the world will end in fire,_

_Some say in ice. _

_From what I've tasted of desire_

_I hold with those who favor fire._

_But if it had to perish twice,_

_I think I know enough of hate_

_To say that for destruction ice_

_Is also great and would suffice. _

I read this poem a thousand times, but never before it made me to shiver as it did now when I heard it in Snape's deep, velvet voice with a wonderful British accent that phascinated me even when he was sneering at me. Only now I realized that I never heard him speaking like this, without the usual coldness and sarcasm in his voice. He read the poem whole-heartedly, with a true feeling – as if he actually did understood what the author had meant.

Or perhaps he really _did_. Who knows? After all, what did I knew about Snape anyway?

"Robert Frost. A Muggle poet?" Snape closed the book and glanced at the back cover.

"Yeah, one of my favourites. You can throw it out if you don't like it, I just thought that – "

"Stop speaking nonsense, Miss Swan. While I'm hardly a sentimental fool like the most of people, it doesn't mean I cannot appreciate a good work when I read one. There are some Muggle writers whose works are quite tasty."

"Oh, okay," I slowly retreated to the door. "Well, I'm off now. Sorry again for disturbing – well, whatever you were doing before I came in."

"First, Miss Swan, you did not disturbed me much. And second – " Snape hesitated, then quietly added. "Thank you for the gift. For both of them. It's very... considerate and unexpected. However I would rather keep between us the fact I like Muggle poems," he smirked again. "If you tell anyone, I will deny it, and you will serve detention for the next three years at least."

Something in his voice clearly indicated that it was not meant serious, but I merely nodded in agreement. I was not going to tell anyone – and, to be honest, who would ever believe me?

"Your secret is safe, Professor. I must admit, it wasn't easy to find a gift for you. I had no idea what would you like."

"I'm sure that Professor Dumbledore would say some sentimental stuff like that the gift is not as important as the given attention," Snape noted.

In less than one minute Snape demonstrated his usual cold, distant behavour and then suddenly he was all human and even nice. His mood swings were kind of giving me whiplash more often than I would like to admit.

My stomach used that particular moment to growl quietly, reminding it was a time for breakfast. I could not help but laughed. Snape quirked one eyebrow, but I noticed his lips were slightly curved upwards in restrained smile.

"Merry Christmas, Professor Snape!" I quickly sneaked past him and sprinted out of his office, but not fast enough to not hear his voice to pronounce the words I doubt he ever told anyone, especially to a student.

"You too, Miss Swan."

A surprise awaited me when after breakfast I returned in dormitory, where I was left alone at Christmas. It was a small box on my bedspread, wrapped in golden paper, tied with a silver ribbon, kind of clever combination of both Slytherin and Gryffindor additional colours. I had a pretty good guess who could possibly send it.

The wrapping was too neat to simply tear it apart, so it took me a solid ten minutes until I managed to untie the ribbon and carefully take the paper off. The box itself was adorned with black velvet, but inside I found a silver chainlet with a single emerald hanging from it. Underneath the jewelry was a piece of folded parchment, containing four simple words and a signature, written in a neat script.

_Merry Christmas, Miss Swan!_

_Professor _

I looked at the chainlet, then back at note, and a smile spread across my face. It was so nice of him to actually give to a student a Christmas gift. I carefully placed the box along with the note in my bag, then fastened the chainlet around my neck. The emerald felt cold against my skin, but the heat of my body warmed it soon. It was beautiful and rather personal gift, which filled my heart with unknown warmth.

I could not help but grin like a fool during the feast. Since I wore a low-necked jumper, the necklace was visible and, of course, it caused quite an admiration from Hermione and Ginny. They asked where did I got it from, to which I simply replied that it was a Christmas gift from a friend. Thankfully they did not asked for details, presumably deciding that it was a friend from Muggle world.

During the feast (I sat at Gryffindor table just like last year), I caught Snape looking at me once in a while. I know he probably noticed I was wearing his gift. Of course, as soon as our eyes met, he quickly looked away, but his lips were slightly curved, as if he tried to conceal the smile. That only made me smile even wider.

"What makes you so happy, Bella?"

"Oh, nothing. Christmas time and such, you know," I merely waved my hand, reaching for chocolate truffle. "Have a good luck later with – well, you know, what."

For the first time this year I could not force myself to worry about the mysterious Slytherin monster and Chamber of Secrets. The Christmas time had its own magic.


	9. The First Lesson With Snape

**Chapter 9 – The First Lesson With Snape**

Hermione's plan was actually brilliant, but it was in vain. Harry and Ron successfully transformed into Crabbe and Goyle, then used the password I gave them to enter the Slytherin common room. Unfortunately Malfoy did not know anything about the Chamber of Secrets and who was standing behind the attacks. The only thing he told them was that the last time the Chamber was opened, one student was killed.

The things did not turned out so well for Hermione herself. The hair she took off from Millicent's robes actually was a cat hair, but Polyjuice Potion was not meant for non-human transformation. In result, Hermione's face now was covered by black fur, she sported whiskers, cat's ears and tail. Lucky for all of us, Madam Pomfrey never asked too many questions.

"I was so sure it was Malfoy," Ron moaned, when we walked out of the hospital wing, leaving Hermione in Madam Pomfrey's care.

"But, if it's not him, then who?" I frowned.

It was a good question. Not that I would ever admit that out loud without having any proof, but I did suspected that he _could _be the one. Now we had returned back to where we started.

"I guess we just have to wait for the Mandrakes to grow up and for all those who had been Petrified to be revived," I sighed. "Let's hope that at least one of them actually had seen the attacker."

The rest of holidays passed in peaceful mood, in spite of Hermione's absence, but we visited her as much as we could, that is, as long as Madam Pomfrey allowed us to be there. Since most of students had left for Christmas, it was also likely that the Heir was not even here. We all decided to keep our eyes open after the end of holiday, when everyone will be back. It was the best we could do right now.

When I was not spending the time with Harry, Ron and Hermione, I sat in dormitory and read Hermione's gift. I had memorized more than half of it – there were six books in this particular volume. It should do for the start, or so I hoped. My bed reminded Hermione's workspace in library, when she did her homeworks – it was covered with books and notes, while I studied the material with more enthusiasm than anything else.

In first Saturday of January I waited outside at Snape's office fifteen minutes before ten, pacing back and forth in nervous excitement. The Potions Master himself appeared precisely at ten o'clock, striding down the corridor, black robes billowing behind him as always.

"Good morning, sir!" I greeted him in bright, chirpy voice.

"You seem to be in particulary good mood today, Miss Swan," Snape commented, unlocking the door with a flick of his wand and motioning for me to enter first.

"Well, I don't see why not," I shrugged, walking in and plopping down on my usual seat, placing the bag with books at my feet. "Some people would think I'm crazy, but I have been waiting for those lessons to begin since you made that offer."

Snape closed the door behind him, with another flick of wand locking them –to avoid any disturbance, as he mentioned before – and looked at me with a strange expression.

"Do you enjoy my presence?" he quietly asked.

His question kind of kicked me off the balance. I could not say 'yes', because he could misread it, but I could not say 'no' either, because that would offend him.

"Well, Miss Swan?" Snape smirked, as if knowing exactly what dilemma tore apart my mind even without being able to read it.

"It depends on your attitude," I came up with the best answer I could figure out at the moment, then decided to reveal more of my true mind. "Let's just say, as long as you're not insulting my friends, I do enjoy being in the same room with you, because you're a good teacher. I consider myself lucky to be able to learn from you."

After a moment Snape nodded, then he walked to the desk and took his seat. I turned to him, trying not to fidget too much, practically burning in anticipation.

"Now, Miss Swan, at first I would like to know what spells you already had mastered. Just be honest, I'm not going to punish you for telling the truth."

"Disillusionment and Patronus Charms, Stunning Spell – that's what I learned in last year. During the summer break I successfully learned non-verbal magic, _Impendimenta_ and _Ascendio_. I tried to brew some potions too, but I'm not completely sure if I actually made them right. Visually they matched with description – "

"What potions did you brewed?" Snape interrupted, while murmuring the notes to his new Dictoquill.

I pulled a piece of parchment out of my pocket where I wrote down all potions I tried to brew. Snape overlooked the list and glanced at me, his eyebrows raised in disbelief.

"You actually tried to brew the Draught of Living Death and Veritaserum? It's advanced NEWT's level, Miss Swan. You will demonstrate how you brew those potions, but not today. Anything else that you learned?" Snape put the parchment aside and folded his arms on desk, looking at me. His black eyes did not seemed as cold as they used to be.

"The Shield Charm, the one you used to stop the Whomping Willow from attacking me further," Snape frowned in confusion, so I hurried to explain. "It was the last thing I heard before passing out. Later, I found that spell in library book about protection spells and enchantments."

"I'm impressed, Miss Swan – "

"Professor Snape, could you, please, call me Bella?" I suggested. "I mean, most of teachers are calling me by my first name in private. Well, except Lockhart," I added in a tone, full of disgust, "but I don't consider him as a proper teacher, so it doesn't count."

"It is not appropiate for students and teachers to address each other by their given names, so I hope you will excuse me for not making any exception for that rule," Snape coldly said, his usual behaviour back in place.

I sighed, but decided not to object any further. If he wanted to call me Miss Swan, then so be it. It did not really mattered. There was a minute of silence, while we both simply sat and scrutinized each other. Then Snape opened a drawer and took out a journal with dark brown leather cover. I straightened up in my seat.

"Professor Dumbledore and I once again discussed in detail what exactly you should learn. We came to the same conclusion that you should not be learning standart spells in those lessons to not to rush forward much to your classmates. Instead I will teach you advanced magic that Hogwarts students are learning only in exceptional way, which means, very rarely."

"I'm ready. Where do we start?"

"Slow down, Miss Swan," Snape grinned. "Considering your natural drive to get in trouble along with your Gryffindor friends, I think it would be wise to start with defence and protection spells."

He stood up and draw out his wand, motioning for me to do the same. With a simple wave Snape moved the desk and both chairs to the furthest corner, clearing the space in the middle of the room.

"Now, the first spells I'm going to teach you are more advanced versions of Shield Charm. Those are used to create an invisible physical shield over large area. The main purpose is to hide your location from the outer intrusion," Snape raised his wand, with his free arm motioning for me to retreat. " Now, please, stand over there, and I will cast the spell between us, so you can see how it looks in practice."

He slowly drew a semicircle in the air in front of him. I watched, mesmerized, how the air rippled almost imperceptibly. Within seconds, Snape vanished from my sight, though I still heard his voice.

"There, now you shouldn't be able to see me anymore, am I correct?"

"Yes," I answered, staring at the empty spot in front of me.

"Now, Miss Swan, I would ask you to cast a hex at me."

I blinked once, then again, hesitating.

"Are you waiting for special invitation?" Snape sounded irritated.

I rolled my eyes, then shrugged. "_Stupefy_!"

The jet of red light merely dissolved in the middle of the room. At the very moment Snape removed the spell, appearing before me once again.

"The spell can be easily removed if the caster itself does it. More skilled wizards and witches who has a knowledge in powerful Dark Arts can break through the barriers, however, but only if they are aware of their existance. Now, it's your turn, Miss Swan," Snape nodded at me. "The incantation is _Protego Maxima_."

"Does it require any particular mental power? Or does it works just like the usual Shield Charm?" I asked, already raised my wand at ready.

"Miss Swan, do you remember what I said earlier? What kind of spell is this?" Snape asked with a note of impatience.

"Advanced version of the Shield Charm," I replied, not quite following.

"And it means – what?"

"Oh, okay," I drew a semicircle in a form of a rainbow, while muttering the incantation. The air rippled, but not so much as it did for Snape. "I take that it didn't worked," I smiled, apologetically.

"From my point of view you look like a ghost. For the first time it was not bad, but you still need to work on it," Snape walked around me, scrutinizing the shield, then without any warning he slashed his wand at me. The force of spell was enough to knock me down on floor. I sat up and glared at Snape, spitting the hair out of my mouth.

"Yes, it's very obvious that the spell did _not _worked," Snape smirked. Damn, he actually enjoyed this. I gritted my teeth and jumped back on my feet.

"May I try again?"

"At first you should remove this one. Now, remember, the shield can be recalled by _Finite Protego_. It's a non-verbal spell. If you really mastered this particular branch of magic, you should be able to do it easily. Simply repeat the same wand motion, while casting the counterspell," Snape returned to his previous spot and crossed his arms over chest.

I took a deep breath and did as I was told. The air rippled again, and this time Snape nodded approvingly. "Good, now try again to cast the shield."

This time I put more of concentration skill into the spell than before. Focusing hard on spell, I raised my wand and repeated the wand motion, pronouncing the incantation, "_Protego Maxima_!"

Once again the air rippled like a water surface when its being touched by fingertips. The smile that curved Snape's lips indicated that this time the spell worked properly. He flicked his wand, sending a burst of bright blue light in my direction. I already prepared to receive another blow, but the spell rebounced against the shield and dissolved.

"Professor Dumbledore was right about your skills. Very well, Miss Swan," Snape noted, waiting for me to remove the shield. "So, the rest of Shield Charm versions are _Protego Horriblis _and _Protego Totallum_. The purpose is the same, the only difference is the wand motion – it must be pointed skywards."

I listened carefully, memorizing every word he said. Snape was rather pleased for having a full attention from my part. And I was not about to disappoint him. Last year Snape complained for not having a single student who would be more or less competent, capable to follow the instructions with the most accuracy. Well, I thought at myself, I _could _live up to his expectations.

After explaining in details how the shields should be casted, Snape did another demonstration with the both additional spells, instructing me to do the same. These spells were a bit harder to achieve. It took me at least five attempts to master each one of them while Snape tried to hit through the shield (thankfully none of hexes he used were meant to cause a serious damage), but Snape was not very disappointed. He even noted that he would be rather surprised if I managed to master them with the first attempt.

We practised a couple of hours, then Snape suggested that we should take a little break. He summoned a house elf and ordered the lunch for two persons. I felt a bit tired – these spells took a lot of strength – and accepted the chance to rest with a gratitude. Snape removed the desk and chairs back to their usual place and sat down. I did the same, resting my head against the back and staring absently at the ceiling.

"How often I will take these lessons?" I asked after the elf had delivered a silver tray with two plates, full with sandwiches, steaming coffeepot and two china cups.

"Every Saturday, the same place and time," Snape poured the coffee for both of us, dropping a single sugar cube into his cup.

"Then we probably must figure out some reason, why I'm coming here," I thoughfully poked the sugar cube in my cup with a spoon. "I must come up with feasible explanation, or else people would get suspicious."

"Are you worried about what your _friends _would think?" Snape smirked, reaching for the sandwich with bacon.

"Hey, it was your idea that no one shall know about those lessons," I took a bite from very delicious chicken sandwich. "Though I still don't understand why should I keep it in such secret from my friends. They are capable of keeping secrets.

"Hmph," Snape grumbled under his nose, unable to spat an insult, because his mouth currently was full with cheese and bacon, but it was hard to misinterpret the sceptical look in his eyes.

After we finished our lunch, Snape once again removed the furniture away, but instead of teaching new spells, he asked me to demonstrate what I already had learned on my own.

After showing a bunch of spells, normally taught in O.W.L.'s level, I Disillusionated myself, much to Snape's surprise – I could tell that he did not actually believed that I had mastered it. I gave in the urge to tease him a bit and tiptoed around him, giving his robes a hard tug from behind while he stared at the spot where I stood a seconds ago. Snape nearly fell over and spun around, his eyes flashing daggers.

"By Merlin, could you be more serious?" he hissed, when I removed the charm, grinning at him.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," I raised my arms in surrending gesture. "I just couldn't resist, sir," I added, inclining my head, smiling apologetically.

Snape sighed and shook his head. "Spare your pranks for someone, who has nothing better to do, Miss Swan."

"Whatever you say. Here's the next spell," I raised my wand and cast a Patronus Charm. A silver mountain lion erupted from the end of my wand, enlightening the room with its glow, graciously pacing back and forth between Snape and me.

"A mountain lion?" Snape curiously eyed the animal. "It's rather uncommon form of Patronus."

"They are _very _common in place where I come from, in Forks."

Snape nodded, watching how the Patronus slowly vanished as I lowered my wand. The silvery light of mountain lion reminded me of something.

"Sir, do you remember our duel?"

Snape glared at me. "What about it?"

I knew it was still a sore spot for Snape, so I had to tread carefully. "I was just wondering, what was that last spell you used? Because I could tell by the look on your face that the outcome was not what it was supposed to be."

Snape relaxed a bit, apparently relieved that I was not going to bombard him with rather humilating and annoying questions of whether he enjoyed being knocked down by me. "It was a Stinging Jinx," he admitted. "However you're right about its effect. It should not happen. If the jinx had reached you, it would have burned your skin."

"Hmm, I used the Full Body-Bind curse. It's not a very common effect when those spells collides – even if they didn't actually collided," I theorized.

I talked to myself, because Snape did not listened. He stood with his back on me, leaning over his desk and writing something in the brown leather book he took out earlier. Before I could ask what he was doing, Snape stretched up and gave the notebook to me.

"There are spells you can practice on your own as a homework, during the following week," he said, with a wave of his wand restoring the previous furniture order in the room. "With your current rate of learning new spells, we might be able to try some potion brewing within a month. Our lesson for today is over, Miss Swan."

"Already?" It passed my lips before I realized what I said, but Snape only smirked at the pitiful tone of my voice.

"Believe me, today I showed you the most easiest spells of what we'll go through. Save the energy for later time, you'll need it," he unlocked the office door, indicating that our lesson indeed has come to an end. "I expect to see you here this day week, the same time. And, Miss Swan, if anyone is asking, tell them that you're taking an extra lessons in Potions."

"I guess it should do for now," I picked up my bag, tucked the brown notebook in and looked up to Snape. "Thank you, Professor Snape! Till the next week!"

With that I opened the door and walked out to join my friends, secretly wishing the week would pass sooner. For one thing I was certain – Snape could be not only excellent, but also very patient teacher if he wanted to be. Today I barely heard a sarcasm from his part, and it already meant something.

I raised my hand and touched the emerald under the jumper. A bright smile spread in my lips, while I walked upstairs to the Entrance Hall to join my friends for the rest of the day.


	10. Valentine Greeting

**Chapter 10 – Valentine greeting **

Deep inside I hoped that I will manage to hide my absence in Saturdays from my friends, but I should have know better. At first I gave them a fib about sleeping in after busy week, but the truth was soon revealed in sunny winter Saturday's afternoon, when I joined my friends in library, where they were doing the homeworks. As I sat down, taking my own books out, Malfoy passed by our table.

"Hey, Swan, enjoyed another detention with Snape?" he paused and smirked at me, when I raised my eyebrows in a silent question. "I've been seeing you coming in and out of his office for the third time already. Every Saturday, at least five hours. So, what have you done this time?"

"Not your fu – bloody business!" I stopped myself in time from saying a four letter word in underage children presence.

Malfoy grinned and continued his way. I muttered a few selective swear words, opening the book and unrolling the parchment. only a few minutes later I realized that Harry and Ron are staring at me, confused, the question practically shining on their foreheads like a neon sign in New York streets.

"I did not earned detentions, so don't ruffle your feathers up!"

"You've been spending the Saturday forenoons with Snape?" Harry whispered, so no one could hear us. "Really, Bella, what did you do?"

"Oh, you're so nosy," I groaned, then dropped my quill and leaned closer to them. "I'm taking additional Potions lessons. I guess my brewing capaticity is far from perfect. And, before you ask, that was his idea, not mine."

Ha, why not to put a blame on him? After all, it was not a lie, at least not completely, but I will be damned if I let them think I enjoy the time with Snape. Their dislike to him was too deep to even try to understand it.

"An extra lessons in Potions?" Ron moaned in horror. "Blimey, Snape really must hate you!"

"Well, it's not so bad as long as he holds back his usual insults towards my friends," I shrugged, continuing to work at the homework in Astronomy.

"You have a lot of patience, if you can tolerate Snape every weekend," Ron murmured, leaning over his own parchment with Potions essay.

"I know you think of him, but I stick to what I said earlier – Snape _is_ an excellent teacher. Well, when he's not talking too much, of course," I smiled, absently fingering the emerald under the blouse, wondering what would Snape think if he hear me talking like this. But, then again, it was his idea again that I should not tell anyone about what we actually did in his office.

And so the days passed. There were no more new attacks, the Mandrakes were growing decently and there was a hope for all of us that maybe the things would eventually solve out. Slowly Hermione got a rid of the fur on her face, however she still sprouted very neat cat whiskers. We visited her every day, helping her to catch up with studies. According to Madam Pomfrey, she had a good chances to be released from the hospital at the start of February.

However, there was one thing. at one evening, after returning from visiting Hermione, Harry and Ron heard Moaning Myrtle's occasional whining, accompanied by Filch's shouting and swearing. As soon as schoolkeeper left to give another round of complaining to Dumbledore, both boys run upstairs and found that Myrtle had flooded the entire corridor due to her upset state after someone hit her with a book. It was a small diary, which Harry showed to me in next day.

"T. M. Riddle?" I read the name in front page. "Who is he?"

"I don't know, but he received some kind of award for special services to Hogwarts school," Ron explained.

"And how do you know that?" it was rather strange for Ron to know something that usually only Hermione could answer to.

"Last month I had to polish the silver in trophy room, when McGonagall put me in detention for accidentally blowing her desk," Ron pulled a face at this memory. Oh, yeah, I remembered that. Ron's wand still did not work properly and once in a while made up something nasty. "Anyway, Filch made me to polish Riddle's award at least twenty times. If you had to polish one name for an hour, you would remember it too."

After we went to see Riddle's trophy, the question remained the same, because there was nothing said for what services he got that golden shield.

"Let me see that thing again," I asked.

Harry handed the diary to me. I carefully paged it from one cover to another, but found nothing. Even some revelation spells did not helped. However the year on the back cover said that the diary was at least fifty years old. The diary itself was empty, no entries were ever made.

"Any ideas?" asked Ron.

"Not a single one. I just don't get it. If it's empty, why to drown it?"

None of us had an answer on that one. In spite of Ron's doubt, Harry still decided to keep it and later show it to Hermione in hope that maybe she will have some ideas.

Soon Hermione got out of hospital wing and rejoined our company. Harry had showed her the Riddle's diary, but even Hermione had no clues about why would anyone try to get a rid of it, apart from seeing the connection of how old the diary was.

"It's fifty years old, isn't it?" she explained in the first day when we all four met. "And Malfoy said that the Chamber has been opened fifty ago. Perhaps his diary could tell us where it is, how to open it and what kind of monster lives there."

Even Ron had to admit that it was a brilliant theory, but he also pointed out that it had a huge gap – the diary was empty. Hermione tried various ways of revealing its text, but she had no better success than me.

Thanks to Lockhart's "brilliant" idea, an epidemic disease spread through the whole school for one day. The desease itself actually was a bunch dwarves, dressed up like Cupids, equiped with golden wings and harps. Their task was to carry Valentine greetings around the school the whole day.

I had a moment of laugh when Lockhart suggested for the rest of staff to show the students something appropiate for this day. When he invited Snape to show us how to brew the love potion, I dove under the table at the sight of Snape's expression, because he seemed ready to poison the first person who would dare only to give a hint about the love potion.

Unfortunately someone with an obvious death wish had decided to send one of those dwarves to me with heart-breaking confession in love. During first two lessons, plus break time, I managed to avoid the dwarf, but in the middle of Potions class the door opened and my persistant follower rushed in.

"I must give a greeting to Miss Isabella Swan!" the dwarf crawled on table next to cauldron, where I grated the lionfish spine. He waved a folded parchment in his little hand, then cleared his throat and prepared to read it.

Snape jumped on his feet, furious (it was already sixth dwarf who interrupted Snape's lessons or so I heard), but I was faster. The dwarf squeaked varily when I grabbed his neck and squeezed it firmly to prevent any sound coming out of tiny mouth. Then I stood up, marched to the door, kicked it open and with a huge wave threw the dwarf as far as I could.

There was a loud yelp, followed by metalic bang when the dwarf crashed into the armour on his trajectory in corridor. Most of Gryffindors and also a few Slytherins supported me with a round of applause.

"You dare to come back and I'll feed you to Fang!" I shouted in anger, while the dwarf sat up, shaking his head, confused from both the flight and collision.

"Get back to your seat, Miss Swan!" Snape commanded, however I could tell that even he had trouble of keeping his face straight. "It is not wise to feed dogs with dwarves, especially with those who are dressed as Cupids, because it can cause a serious digesting problems. I would advise you to take pity of animals and return to your seat! Now!"

"Where is that Slytherin monster when you actually need it?" I hissed in anger, slamming the door close and stomping back to my seat. "I wouldn't mind to get those dwarves Petrified!"

"Get back to your potion, Miss Swan, if you don't wish to lose a house points!" Snape barked.

He did not liked to repeat one and the same order twice, which he just did, so I quickly sat down and resumed the brewing, occasionally exchanging glances with Harry and Ron, who tried to stiffle their laughter.

"Just wait when I will get my hands on the one who dared to send that little, nasty creature to me!" I growled, when we walked out of class.

"Perhaps you should let him to read the greeting?" Ron suggested, chuckling. "Then you would know who sent it."

"That would be no problem," Hermione walked over to the statue where the dwarf had landed and picked a folded parchment from the floor. "He must have lost it when you threw him, which, may I add, wasn't very nice thing to do. I mean, Professor Lockhart only wanted to give a little joy to the students after all those terrible things that happened."

"By turning the Great Hall in some Barbie doll house?" I snatched the parchment out of her hand and stuffed it into the depths of my bag. "Oh, yeah, a perfect way how to cheer us up! Who the hell he think he is? Mister Irresistible? Well, maybe he is – in comparison with Giant Squid."

Harry and Ron laughed, but Hermione huffed and did not spoke to me till the dinner.

Not that I cared much. This was hardly the first time we had arguments over Lockhart. The only good thing was that he eventually stopped showing attention to me. Sometimes I wondered whether it was because of Peeves who had been bugging him since the Halloween when Nick indeed had a word with him, or was it because of Snape. A few times I caught the deadly glare the Potions Master gave to Lockhart when the latest was not looking. Either way, as long as he kept his distance, I did not cared about the reason of why.

It was Friday night and I returned to dormitory right after dinner, instead of going to library where I used to do the homeworks. Lately I rarely had a time to hang around with my friends, because apart from school homeworks, Snape too loaded me with theoretical information I had to learn within a week – he specifically forbid me to practice alone, without his strict supervision. I did not argued – some spells could turn out rather badly, if performed incorrectly.

Sometimes I could swear that those attacks had increased his determination to cram everything that might be useful into my head, whether I wanted it or not. Only my own determination to keep up with his expectations helped me to deal with it even at the cost of losing a lot of sleep hours.

Before to start another homework, I decided to give in my curiousity and rummaged in my bag to find the parchment with Valentine greeting. The only reason why I bothered to read it first instead of throwing the parchment straight into the fireplace was that I wanted to know which one of students has become suicidal.

The note held only a few sentences, but the handwriting was not familiar. For a second I feared it might be Lockhart, but I knew his handwriting. This one was strange, as if printed, yet written by hand. Definitely not a student, but not a teacher either – I knew all of their handwritings from how they wrote the comments on my homeworks.

_This life holds so many things to do, so many places to see, so many words to say, and yet I long for You! The treasures of the world, the fame or glory is worthless if I cannot see You even for a moment as long as a single heartbeat. You always look the other way, remaining within a hand's reach, so close, yet so far away. But the hope still lives within my heart – until my last breath._

I read the note over and over again, trying to figure out who could possibly write such a beautiful words without even bothering to leave the signature. The writing was so moving. It was someone who apparently took a liking of me, but whom I did not noticed before.

I shook my head and put the note back into my bag. It was rather nice to have an attention, but not when it was anonymus one. If the mysterious admirer would ever muster up his courage to show up, then we will see where the things are going to. Quickly banishing the strange Valentine greeting from my mind, I took a new roll of parchment and began to write an essay.

It was long past the midnight, when I finally put aside half-dried parchment with essay about Apparition – a magical method of transportation. Basically it was the magical action of travelling by having the user focus on a desired location in their mind, then disappear from their current location and instantly reappear at the desired location – in Muggle words, it was teleportation. Snape mentioned that I might be able to pass the test before the start of the next scholar year, since I was already over seventeen years old. The Apparition, as he explained, required a licence to Apparate legally.

At first he wanted me to learn the theory and write an essay about the possible outcomes of Apparition, like Splinching which was particulary nastuy. Just imagine leaving a part of your body in a place you just left – it even sounded disgusting. It had to be performed with an absolute perfectness and the most caution.

One of the key points in our lessons was that Snape demanded to use the books as less as possible, especially when I had to write an essay or likewise. He wanted me to use my own words and thoughts – basically I had a free choice as long as I was not losing the main theme. Of course, I read a lot of books, but I also followed Snape's advise and expressed my knowledge the way I saw it, thus showing how much I learned and understood.

Next morning I went to Snape's office and precisely in ten o'clock knocked at his door, before entering. Snape was already there, wearing his travelling cloak. I frowned, but asked nothing. I knew that he would tell me what was going on if I needed to know it. Without invitation I pulled the roll of parchment out of my bag and gave it to Snape, who took it and quickly let his gaze roam over the lines, approvingly nodding.

"I see that you're using a lot of Muggle expressions," he mentioned, putting the essay aside.

"You wanted me to use my own words, and I do just that," I simply responded.

"Indeed," Snape smirked, then pointed at my clothing. "Go back to the dormitory and put on something warm. We'll be going outside today."

"May I ask, why?"

"Do you want to practice in Apparition or not?"

"Of course, I do, but – "

"Then do as I say. I'll meet you in Entrance Hall in ten minutes."

Snape turned and left, the cloak billowing behind him. I rolled my eyes and went to the dormitory to fetch my winter jacket – as soon as the classes were over for the day I always wore the usual Muggle clothes. Within less than ten minutes I was ready to join Snape to wherever he was planning to take me for this day.

"Bella? Are you alright?" Hermione's concerned voice cut through my reverie, when we returned from Herbology lesson at the end of March. "You seem kind of... exhausted."

"Just a little bit," I yawned. "All those extra Potions class are leaving no much time for sleep. Snape is kind of captious teacher."

The truth was that I was physically tired from Apparition lessons. At first Snape used Side-Along Apparition so I would get used to the feeling. He instructed me to hold on tight at his arm, while he Apparated – not too far, though, only a several yards from the place where we were standing.

I still hated to be forced to tell lies to my friends, but I was bound by the promise made to Snape. Just like the others, Hermione was surprised to hear about my "extra Potion lessons", but at least she supported me. At her opinion it was a brilliant opportunity for me to learn from such skilled wizard, and I could not disagree.

"Sometimes I really envy you, Bella," Hermione confessed. "Just imagine what can you learn from Professor Snape. I bet he's really good at teaching."

"Yes, he is," I said, catching a glimpse of Snape who stood in yard, yelling on a couple of third year Ravenclaws for, as it seemed, throwing a snowball at one first year Slytherin student. "Too bad that he still has problems with my friends, but it can be fixed. With time being, of course."

"You think you could make him to like Gryffindors?" Hermione doubtfully asked.

"Well, perhaps not within the next month, or even next couple of years, but eventually – who knows?"

"Ha, that would be the day," Ron chuckled, walking behind us. "It's more likely that Lockhart will begin to teach the real Defense Against the Dark Arts, rather than Snape will show some likeness towards Harry and the rest of us."

"Speaking about that, I think there might be some personal reason for him to dislike you, Harry," I glanced over my shoulder to my friend. "I just haven't figured out yet, what that might be."

"Bella, I bet you on ten galleons that he would never even tolerate me," Harry said, as we entered the Entrance Hall, shaking the snowflakes off our robes.

"Deal," I shrugged. "Even more, I raise the bet to twenty galleons that he will begin to tolerate you till the end of our final, seventh year."


	11. The Attack

Chapter 11 – The Attack

Three things happened one after another shortly before and after the Easter holidays.

First, Harry finally had discovered the secret of T. M. Riddle's diary – he tried to write into it and the diary answered on its own, revealing that it was Hagrid who opened the Chamber fifty years ago. Neither of us could actually believe it, but we had no courage to go and ask him whether it is true. Eventually we decided to say nothing unless there will be another attack.

Second, someone broke into Gryffindor boys dormitory and stole the diary. That came as a shock to all of us, because it also meant that the Heir probably was a Gryffindor student – or at least was acquainted with one.

And third, the most terrible thing happened today. Just when we expected it less, there was another double attack. And one of victims was no one else but Hermione. She and another girl from Ravenclaw were found at the library with a mirror nearby on the floor.

The new school rules were set immediately. No one could walk around the castle without being escorted by a teacher. I felt incredibly thankful for being the only exception to that rule, which still allowed me to come and go as I pleased.

Tonight, however, I could not think about it. After unsuccessfully trying to write at least ten feet essay about Dementors and how to fight with them (private homework from Snape), I put it aside and decided to pay a visit to the library for two reasons. First, I was running out of reading material, and, second, I needed to get out to clear my head after the shock that took me over after seeing Hermione's glassy eyes as she lied in hospital bed like a statue, immobile and lifeless.

The library was the one place I could go to even after curfew as long as I kept myself away from Restricted Section. Since Snape provided me with a lot of books that came from that section, I had no desire to break this rule, given by Dumbledore, so I merely wandered along the shelves until reached the section about magical creatures. Unable to pick up any particular book, I closed my eyes, reached out and grabbed the first one that came into my touch.

Since Madam Pince was not here to register the book, I settled in cozy armchair at the window and absently paged through the book in wand light. After half an hour my eyes were caught by an illustration in the center of page. It showed a huge snake with a golden crown on its head. Out of curiousity I began to read the text around the picture. And then – I nearly screamed in shock.

There is was, the answer we have been looking for so long – the missing link. All pieces fell together at last. My heart was beating frantically with each passing second. Finally I knew what kind of monster attacked the students and why Harry could hear the voice that no one else could hear.

The monster was nothing but basilisk, called also the King of the Serpents. It was a huge _snake_. And Harry was a Parselmouth.

All the minor details resurfaced in memory, surprisingly matching with the information in the book. At every site of attack Harry had seen the spiders running away from the castle as if something had scared them off. The book said that spiders flee before the basilisk. Hagrid complained that his roosters has been killed. It was logical, because the rooster's crow was lethal to the basilisk.

Then the train of thought suddenly derailed. The basilisk could kill by its stare, then why no one had died yet?

The answer came surprisingly fast along with the question itself. No one was dead because they never looked straight into the basilisk's eyes!

I recalled the attacks in mind, one after another. Colin had his camera, Mrs. Norris saw its reflection in window glass or maybe in water puddle (Moaning Myrtle flooded her lavatory at least once in a day), and Justin saw the basilisk through Nick, who – thanks to his already dead state – could not die again. Hermione and that other girl had a mirror which they probably used to look around the corner.

Excited about my discovery, I stood up and paced back and forth, thinking desperately of what to do now. Whether I should go and tell about this to Dumbledore or simply say nothing and observe the situation all by myself. There were a couple of unanswered questions that prevented me from getting the whole picture, like – how the hell that monster wandered around the school without being noticed by anyone and where was the entrance into the Chamber of Secrets?

One thing was clear – I had to do something. The teachers, ghosts and prefects every night patrolled in corridors. I had to tell them at least what I knew so they would be more cautious.

There were an empty sheets of parchment on Madam Pince's desk, so I picked one and copied the page that contained the information about the basilisk. I folded the sheet and put it in my pocket, then I run out of library, hoping to find someone whom to tell about this.

In search of any patrol scout, I finally reached the corridor with Moaning Myrtle's lavatory and was forced to stop at the sound that should not be there, a sound that was nothing like I have ever heard before, accompanied with a strange hissing, similar to the one I heard when Harry stopped the snake from attack, during the Dueling Club meeting.

Someone was speaking in Parseltongue, but it was not Harry! This voice definitely belonged to a girl. I took out my wand and peeked around the corner, for a second forgetting that there might be the basilisk too and its stare might be the last one I see in my life.

I saw a small figure standing in front of lavatory door, which was open. The figure wore black school robes, the head was covered with the hood so I could not see who she was. I leaned more forward, when she turned her head and saw me looking around the corner. Our eyes met, and I barely stiffled a scream of shock.

It was Ginny.

Her eyes, usually sparking with brightness and mischievousness, now blankly stared at me as if not even recognizing me. She held something in her hands, a black leather book.

Riddle's diary.

Why on earth she had it? Could it be that the diary somehow contacted with her and revealed the secret of the Chamber's location?

"Ginny?" I came out of my hiding place, completely forgetting the threat of basilisk that undoubtly was somewhere near once she called it in snake language. "It was you? _You _attacked all those people? Why? Ginny, please, tell me why?"

The little redhaired girl continued to stare at me. I doubted she actually heard what I said. Ginny seemed like hypnotized by someone which, most likely, was the case. There was no any other reason of why would she do such terrible things. I made another step forward, desperately trying to reach her through the haze into which she was trapped.

"Ginny, it's me, Bella. You are my friend, remember? And your brother, Ron is my best friend. Harry too. I don't believe you want to send that monster after me," I spoke quietly, step by step approaching Ginny, who motionlessly watched my movements with the same indifferent look as before.

Something flickered in her eyes, a tiny spark of life. For a second I thought that she will snap out of her trance, but then the look in her eyes turned into the one of pure disgust. Before I could stop her, Ginny turned to the lavatory and hissed again.

I trembled in fear when something – and I knew what exactly it was – hissed in response from the depths of lavatory. Something was gliding across the floor; something big and heavy. And it was moving closer, coming after me.

Without thinking I spun around and broke into a run, not even for once glancing behind, clearly knowing what was following me. I took a few shortcuts through the passages, hidden behind tapestries, but the basilisk kept up with me, not even once slowing down. The deadly snake followed close, and there was nothing I could do. How to kill something without being able to face it?

And then my running came to an abrupt halt. What the hell I was doing? The snake was _following _me, and whoever I would meet would not be able to avoid direct eye contact with the basilisk. Getting Petrified was the second best outcome of this situation – the best would be a quick escape, of course. I checked the door of nearest classroom and, founding them open, quickly slid inside and hid behind the teacher desk, desperately thinking of what to do now.

I needed something that could produce a reflection. A mirror or else. The monster was coming closer, I could hear the snake's hissing behind the door. I was running out of time, and there was no one to save me. The strangest part was that I did _not _wanted anyone to aid me, hating the thought that someone else could get hurt. I only wished I could leave some kind of hint behind so the others would figure out what happened to me.

The snake reached the door and paused for a second. I heard its angry hiss and then sniffing as if the basilisk tried to pick up my scent. There was no doubt that I will join the rest of statues in hospital wing within a counted seconds. Without thinking I pulled the sheet out of my pocket and crumpled it in a small ball, hiding it within my palm.

There, I hope someone will find it. My eyes fell on the window. It was dark outside, but the single candle in the classroom was enough for me to see my own reflection. Resolutely I stood up and walked to the window, eyes closed, breathing deeply.

The door broke open when the basilisk rammed its head against the fragile wood. I opened my eyes and in the window glass reflection finally saw the King of the Serpents. The snake's big, bright yellow eyes and my brown eyes met, and a wave of freezingly cold rush of air enwrapped me instantly. I felt my body turning into a hard stone shell into which I became trapped in less then second.

One of the most strangest things I realized was that after meeting the basilisk stare I remained _conscious_. I still heard everything around myself, my mind was still thinking, the rest of senses were also working, but physically my body was frozen. I could not move, speak, I could not even blink or breathe – which probably was another strange thing I could not understand. I stared blankly at one spot, wondering how long it would take before someone will find me.

To be honest, I did not expected anyone to come across me until the morning, so I felt rather surprised to hear two very familiar, very out-of-place voices somewhere in the distance.

"Harry, it's too dangerous! We can get caught, the corridors are full of teachers and ghosts!" Ron moaned.

I wondered why on earth he spoke so loud unless this corridor was empty, and so they thought it was not necessary to be too careful.

"I'm telling you, Ron, I heard that voice again," I vagualy heard Harry's voice down the corridor. "It's somewhere here."

Of course, Harry always heard the basilisk before it attacked. No doubt he heard it again. Their footsteps came closer, then paused at the door. I silently prayed for at least one of them to open them and have a look inside.

"Harry, look at that!" Ron gasped only several feet away from me. I knew they had reached the door which now hung in one hinge after basilisk crashed it. "What could possibly do that?"

"I don't know. Let's take a look," Harry resolutely said.

I tried to use the non-verbal magic, but in vain. The wand was under my jacket, not in my hand, so there was no use of it. I mentally crossed my fingers, when the door remnants cracked a bit and two pair of footsteps entered the classroom. If I could breathe, I would probably held my breath, waiting –

"BELLA!"

With the terrible scream, Harry came into my view, throwing the Cloak off his shoulders. He fell on his knees next to me, staring at me in horror. Ron stood behind him, pale and stricken, his eyes wide. I wished I could give him a sign, to let him know that I was still right here.

"NO! Bella, please no, not you too!" Harry's voice broke, then he looked up. "Ron? Ron, go and get some help! GO!"

Without saying a word, Ron turned and run out, his steps echoing in the corridor.

"It's gonna be okay, Bella! Everything will be alright," Harry kept on repeating, his voice barely louder than whisper.

He could spare me that. I knew that everything will be alright. As soon as the Mandrakes would be fully grown, Madam Pomfrey would revive the Petrified ones, including me. I knew I will be fine. After all, I was still here, alive – sort of, but still alive. Then again, perhaps Harry was trying to comfort and assure himself about my condition. I could see that he was on the verge of tears.

"Don't you dare to run away from me!" suddenly I heard a loud yell, following by very fast footsteps.

Harry looked up, frowning, and quickly hid the Cloak under his robes. After a few seconds Ron bursted into the room, panting heavily.

"I run _on _Snape and then run _away _from him to force him into following," he gasped. "It was the only way how to get him here. There he comes – " with that he stepped out of room back into the corridor, where Snape's angry voice came closer, spitting curses at disobedient student who dared to break the curfew rule especially in current circumstances.

"Gryffindor loses fifty points, Mr. Weasley! Return to your dormitory, now! Tomorrow I shall inform Professor McGonagall about her student's reckless wandering after the curfew!"

"Professor Snape, it's Bella! We just found her – she's right there," Ron ignored Snape's threats. "Please, sir!"

"Miss Swan, unlike you, has permission to be outside after the curfew," Snape snarled. "Or did she forgot to share this information with you?"

"Sir, you don't understand!" Ron moaned in desparation, but Harry already had stood up and rushed to the door.

"Ah, I see that Mr. Potter has been ignoring the school rules as well," Snape drawled, a pure satisfaction in his voice. "I should have know better. Well, let's see, the Gryffindor house will lose – how many points that would be – ?"

"_Professor_!" Harry shouted in anger. "There has been another attack!"

There was a moment of silence, then – "What did you just said, Potter?"

"Another attack, sir! Bella – she's Petrified," Harry whispered, pain obvious in his voice.

"Out of my way, Potter!" Snape spat, his heavy steps echoing in classroom as he run inside and abruptly came to a halt. I heard him inhaling sharply, the sound indicating that he saw me. "Potter, Weasley, go and call Filch, he's patrolling on the fourth floor! And then go back to your dormitory!"

"But she's our friend – " Ron began, but Snape gave him a deadly stare.

"Either you do as I say, or Gryffindor lose all house points. Your choice, Weasley."

"Let's go, Ron," Harry murmured. "Professor Snape will take care of Bella, I'm sure of it. She's Slytherin student, after all."

I wished I could close my eyes and spare myself the look in Snape's eyes as soon as my friends left. He said nothing, merely kneeled down next to me, his black eyes fixed on my face. His look was full of helplessness and silent anger - thankfully not aimed at me, but to the one who did this to me.

This was the first time when I actually wished for him to be able to read my mind. That would give him all answers he needed. Maybe he will find the piece of parchment, folded in my hand – I deliberately did not squeezed it too tight to allow anyone to easily take it out.

But Snape continued to stare at my face as if it was something interesting. His gaze made me feel uncomfortably, but thankfully it did not last for too long. After a minute Filch appeared, panting and huffing – apparently he had run all the way from the fourth floor to here.

"Take her legs," Snape ordered, holding my shoulders. "Now, lift her up, only carefully, you imbecile man! If she's Petrified, it doesn't mean you can treat her like a lifeless piece of rock! Let's take her to the hospital."


	12. Nightly Companion

**Chapter 12 – Nightly companion**

Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall already were waiting, alerted, when Snape and Filch carried me into the hospital and gently lowered my Petrified body in bed.

"Another attack?" McGonagall asked, her voice slightly trembling. "Who?"

"Miss Swan," Snape shortly replied.

McGonagall gasped loudly. "Dear Heaven! Oh, Severus, I'm so sorry!"

"By Merlin, why would you feel sorry? For what?"

"She's one of your house students. I would never believed that the monster could attack any of Slytherins."

"In case if you failed to hear about it, Miss Swan is a Muggle-born. For the monster that's a good reason to attack."

Filch mumbled something about going back to patrol and vanished off my sight. I could see only Snape's black robes, however McGonagall too still remained in my close proximity. I could hear her muffled sob, which she tried to suppress. Then I spotted a wand hovering above my face – it belonged to Madam Pomfrey who apparently cast a diagnostical spell.

"Hmm, strange," she murmured, then repeated the wand motion, then again, until Snape glared at her. "I haven't seen anything like this with the rest of victims."

"What are you talking about?" McGonagall came forward, entering my field of vision.

"The others are showing no signs of life, absolutely nothing. You might as well try to tell the diagnose for the brick wall or plain rock. But I can detect a faint sign of conciousness in Miss Swan. It's very, very unusual, Minerva, but I wouldn't be surprised to find out that she can hear us right now."

Snape's pale face suddenly changed. There was a brief flash of hope in his eyes, when he stepped closer and spoke: "Are you serious?"

"I cannot say for sure, but – see yourself," Madam Pomfrey waved her wand over me once again. "Did you see that blue light? That means her mind is awake and intact. The others, however, are like statues."

"But you're not completely sure if she can actually hear us, are you?" Snape asked, not tearing his eyes away from my face.

"No, I can't be sure of that."

"I still don't understand what the governors were thinking by suspending Dumbledore! You can see the outcome already," McGonagall pointed at me. "He's been gone only four hours, and we have another attack. That makes three in one day."

Dumbledore was suspended? How many more bad news awaited us? Inside my mind I screamed in helpless anger.

"I daresay he will return soon," Snape gloomy answered. "He is only temporarily suspended, the governors will come to their senses when they realize that Dumbledore's absence is only making things worse."

"I do hope you're right, Severus," McGonagall sniffed, then continued in more firmly tone. "I must resume the patrol and tell the rest of them to be extremely cautious."

_Please, take a look at my hands!_ _Find the note! It will tell you what you need to know!_ I was screaming inside my mind, but no one could hear me.

But it was in vain. From the outside I knew I looked just like the others – frozen, immobile and silent. How I wished to be able to communicate somehow! Maybe I should leave the parchment on the floor where it could be easily found instead of hiding it in my palm.

I heard McGonagall's steps retreating. Soon Madam Pomfrey too walked away to her office. Only Snape remained here. At first I thought he will leave along with McGonagall, but instead of that, Snape took one of the chairs and sat down beside my bed. With the corner of eye, I could see him staring straight forward, his eyes fixed upon the window. For a long time there was no other sound apart from his even breathing.

"Why did you have to wander around the castle in the middle of night? I know you have that bloody permission, but why did you had to risk so much?" Snape spoke so suddenly and so quiet that I was not certain at first was he actually talking to me. "If you had remained in dormitory, nothing like this would ever happened. You're so lucky to be only Petrified, not – " Snape abruptly went silent, apparently unable to say the word out loud.

Though I knew what he wanted to say – that I was lucky to not be dead. And for the first time I actually felt a genuine care from him. It was strange, yet comforting. He did not spoke again for the next couple of hours, and then he stood up and left without as much as looking at me.

I was left alone, a prisoner of my own mind, unable to do anything apart from praying that someone will eventually find the answer, hidden in my stone palm.

Day after day I spent like a statue, frozen, trapped within my own immobile body. At first the only people who came to visit were Harry and Ron. They sat with me for a while, then moved to sit with Hermione too, who was lying two beds apart from me. They spoke to both of us, not knowing I could hear them, yet it made me feel better, knowing that I was not completely forgotten.

However Madam Pomfrey soon forbid any visits to avoid any possibility that attacker might come to get inside the hospital to finish the victims. At some point it seemed ridiculous, because how could you kill a statue? And it was very unlikely for basilisk to enter the hospital wing unnoticed – but then again – I was the only one who knew that the monster was the basilisk.

And yet – in spite of Madam Pomfrey's veto, I was not left alone, because one person still visited me almost every night, much to my surprise. And it was no one else but Professor Snape. He did not quite believed Madam Pomfrey's words about my consciousness state, so he mostly just sat there in silence at my bed in late night hours, while the others were on patrol in corridors.

Sometimes he did spoke, though, reading aloud the volume I got from Hermione in Christmas (how the hell did he got his hands on them? I kept the books in dormitory, deep in my trunk) or reciting Robert Frost poems, though he carefully checked if Madam Pomfrey is nowhere near before reading Muggle poems. Those were the times I waited with the most anticipation. His voice, quiet and low, enwrapped me in warmth and gave some sense of safety, allowing my mind to rest and even drift into some sort of sleeping state.

There were other times when he spoke about classes he had to teach, complaining about imbecile students who could not tell the difference between bezoar and plain field stone. His irritated tone was amusing, and it cheered me.

Though Snape still called me Miss Swan and nothing about his behaviour indicated that his presence here might have some other, more personal reason, I had a feeling that he choosed to spend the time with me because he enjoyed it no less than I do.

During one of the first nights, Snape confessed that he does not believe that I can hear him. It occured eventually to me it probably was the main reason of why he spoke to me at all. I was familiar with the feeling when the emotional level has reached its top and you simply need to venture it out verbally, whether someone is listening or not. Talking to me was the best solution for Snape, because at one point I was there and listened, from the other point I could not respond or any other way cause a distraction from his trail of thoughts.

And then came the night I would never forget, because it changed my thoughts about Severus Snape irreversibly.

Snape was in particulary sour mood, when he settled down in chair. Something was disturbing him, I could tell that by his appearance. The moonlight enlightened Snape's pale face, and an alarm bells immediately rung in my head, as I wondered what could so terrible happen to make him look so forlorn.

"Why am I here?" Snape murmured after what seemed like a very long time, staring at his hands. "Why do I fail to resist coming here every night? It's not like it would make a difference for you anyway. You're Petrified, you don't even know I'm here."

Without any warning, Snape reached out and gently touched my cheek with his fingertips ever so slightly. It was not a lover's caress, yet very close to the one. This gesture was filled with compassion I have never believed to receive from Snape. In that moment I once again recalled the Mirror's image and once again wondered, could it be true?

"Why do I feel so damn protective about you, Miss Swan? You already had proved that you can handle things on your own. Protection should rather be required from those who must deal with you. And yet, here I sit like a fool," Snape snorted. "Exactly like a fool. I should be taking patrol in corridors, but, no, I'm here, talking to a statue. And for what? Absolutely nothing!"

Inside my mind I felt confused, worried and curious at once.

"What is that thing that keeps me awake unless I pay a visit to you and check if you are alright?" Snape continued, turning to look at me. "You are utterly ordinary girl, Miss Swan, yet something pulls me in here every night."

He leaned forward and slightly inclined his head so now my Petrified eyes were looking directly at him. I realized that my sense of smell was still working, when I unmistakingly noticed a faint scent of alcohol coming from Snape. He was not drunk, though, just a little tipsy, which probably was why he said what he said.

"Just imagine that – _I _and _care _about a student, even from my own house. It doesn't even fit in one sentence, does it?" Snape bowed his head, the curtain of black hair obscuring his face from my eyes. "Some would think I should be rather glad that the Heir of the Slytherin is back in Hogwarts, but that's not true, not at all. In fact, if I'd know who has been attacking the students, it would be wise for that person to not get caught by me."

Strange as it may seem, I felt thankful to basilisk, who Petrified me, because otherwise I would never been able to learn about this human side of Snape. He sighed deeply, then he gently enwrapped his fingers around my wrist. If Snape had choosed to sit on the other side, he would find the note. I prayed he would at least take a closer look at my hands, but – he did not.

"I wish the attacker will be caught soon. Perhaps you would wonder why I'm so concerned about it?" Snape deeply sighed, seemingly unsure of whether to continue. "Every time I leave you with promising myself that this is the last time. And yet I come back. Because – I care about you. For unknown reason I do."

If I could, I would have gasped out loud right now. But Snape chuckled bitterly, straightening up in his chair, once again averting his gaze.

"When I was a kid, my best friend was a Muggle-born. And, when I look at them," he briefly glanced at Petrified students around us, then back at me, "I can't help but think that if the Chamber had been opened at that time, she could easily be one of them. She was... incredibly nice, sweet person. But I was a fool, once again. And because of my stupidity I lost our friendship – and maybe even more – "

Snape abruptly closed his mouth, afraid that he had said too much. But I felt like this was completely different Severus Snape before my eyes. This one was unlike the one the whole school knew as sarcastic and cruel Potions Master. This Snape was a human being just like any other person, with his own fears, emotions and insecurities. The difference was that he normally put a large amount of effort to hide it from the rest of the world.

"At some point you remind me of her. She too had a strong drive to defend those who needed it. Sometimes, when I look at you, I can clearly see the likeness between you both," he sighed again, absently fingering the button on his sleeve, not really paying attention to what he is doing.

"I hope that Madam Pomfrey is wrong about your condition. But, if she's right and you _can _hear me, do not ever bother to even mention it, because these memories will be erased from my mind by the time you will be revived!" Snape's voice for a second regained the usual cold tone, but it softened, when he continued. "Maybe – if the things were different – "

There were a couple of voices audible down the corridor – I recognized Madam Pomfrey and Professor Sprout who sounded too cheerful, considering the whole situation in Hogwarts. Within a second Snape stood up and Disillusionated himself so quickly I could swear he Disapparated if I had not seen the wand motion.

"Thank you, Pomona," Madam Pomfrey said, pausing in doorway. "Please, do inform Minerva too. She will be delighted to hear some happy news at last."

"I'm sure she will. I'll prepare the Mandrakes and bring them to you before the dawn. Hopefully by tomorrow night we will know who attacked all those students."

Tomorrow night! I had to endure being trapped into this stone shell only another twenty four hours. This thought filled my mind with enormous joy. Maybe I will have a chance to have a word with Snape before he fulfill the promise to clear his memory from the nights, spent by my side. But then I remembered that Snape probably was still here and most likely he will erase those particular memories as soon as he will return to his chambers.

I sought the comfort in hope that even if he would never remember those nights, _I will._

The time passed at a snail's pace. Shortly before the dawn Professor Sprout brought to the hospital the Mandrakes (she already had cut them up, so no one would hear their cry) and Madam Pomfrey began to brew the Reviving Potion right away, locked up in her office.

The loud knock at the hospital door forced her to pause at the brewing. Muttering something under her nose, she went to see who was there.

"We came to visit Bella and Hermione," it was Harry. "We just got permission from Professor McGonagall."

"There is no use of talking to a Petrified person," Madam Pomfrey said, but allowed them to come in nevertheless, then returned back to her office.

Harry sat down besides Hermione, while Ron perched down on the edge of my bed. I could see his sorrowful face, when he looked at me.

"We need you, both of you," Harry quietly said. "Now more than ever."

_I am here, I will help you, just hang on a little bit!_ I thought, in spite of not being heard. Then I noticed Ron's gaze which turned downwards, and I screamed joyfully in mind. He _did _noticed the note in my hand. With a swift motion Ron leaned over me and carefully pulled the piece of parchment out of my hand.

"Harry, look what I found!" he whispered, but Harry did not responded. "What is that?"

"I found something too!" Harry moved to sit at my bed. He held a crumpled paper in his hand. "This is why Hermione was at the library the day she was attacked!"

He read aloud the fragment, which – although it came as no surprise, since it was Hermione who discovered it – matched word by word with the text I held in hand all this time. When Ron unfolded the parchment, he whistled, seeing the same thing.

"Looks like Bella discovered it too! There's the same thing, Harry. They both found out that it was basilisk, but they had no chance to warn the others."

Suddenly Harry's eyes widened. "Remember, what Aragog said? About the girl who was killed in lavatory? What if she's still there?"

"Moaning Myrtle? And the entrance into the Chamber – do you reckon it could be – "

" – in Moaning Myrtle's lavatory," Harry finished the sentence.

"_All students are to return to their house dormitories at once! All teachers to the second floor corridor, immediately_!" McGonagall's magically amplified voice reached each and every corner of the castle.

"By Merlin's beard!" Madam Pomfrey gasped and rushed out of her office, pausing only to order both boys to return in Gryffindor house right away.

After ten minutes I finally learned about what happened. Madam Pomfrey returned, but this time she was accompanied with Snape. They both vanished into her office, but the door was left open, so I could hear what they were talking about.

"I'm so thankful that you agreed to help me with this. Right now I don't think I could handle it alone. If the students are going home tomorrow, we must revive the Petrified ones, so they could safely leave along with the others," Madam Pomfrey commented. "Do you really think that Lockhart will be able to deal with the monster?"

"No," Snape coldly replied. "I'm rather surprised that most of students, particulary females are still considering him as a hero when it's obvious even to a child that Lockhart is the biggest dunce this school has ever seen."

"At least he agreed to go down to the Chamber of Secrets and try to retrieve that poor Weasley girl. Why did that monster captured her, I still don't understand. She's a pureblood, she had nothing to fear," Madam Pomfrey continued.

"That we can only guess. Now, let's get to work, if you really want to revive them before midnight."

Ginny was captured by the Slytherin monster and dragged away to the Chamber of Secrets? For the first time since my body was Petrified, my mind also felt like frozen in shock. I only hoped that Harry and Ron already informed some more qualified teacher about what they had found out about the basilisk.


	13. The Awakening

Chapter 13 – The Awakening

The following day was the worst one I have ever had. Being in an absolute dark about what was going on was a pure torture. Later I wondered how did I managed to keep my sanity that day.

Lockhart had agreed to go down there after Ginny. She might as well be dead by now. Why him? Snape was absolutely right, Lockhart would not be able to do a thing. He was a master expert when it comes about bragging, smiling for camera and signing photos, but in truth he was nothing but an idiot, who most of times had no idea at which end the wand must be held.

The minutes passed in nearly absolute silence, the only sounds coming from Madam Pomfrey's office, like rhythmical knife knocking against the table or metallic clanking of stirring rod against the cauldron while Snape and Madam Pomfrey were preparing the ingredients and occasionally stirring the potion. They spoke very little, only once in a while commenting the process, but from what I heard, the potion could be ready within an hour.

Finally the Revival Potion was ready. Madam Pomfrey came out of her office, holding a tray with six phials (I guessed that they already administered one to Mrs. Norris, who was kept in nurse's office) with dark purple liquid. Snape followed on her heels. He took one of phials and pulled out his wand, approaching Sir Nicholas, who floated in air, dark and immobile. While Madam Pomfrey carefully poured the potion in students' mouths, Snape murmured some incantations, waving his wand over the phial, then pointing it at Nick, magically letting the potion to spread through the ghost's transparent figure.

I was the last one to whom the potion was administred to. The potion itself tasted only half-bad, but it was the revival process that turned out to be the most unpleasant part of the whole thing. By that time Snape had finished to aid the ghost and turned his attention to the students, eventually coming to my bed. It was his presence that gave me strenght to endure the physical pain that followed immediately after the potion entered my system.

It was like a pure fire had spread through my vains, melting the stone skin with its heat. Every cell, every inch of my skin seemed to be burning with white flames. If only I could utter a sound, I would have been screaming by now. Was that how it was supposed to be? If so, better leave me Petrified for all eternity!

As if sensing my state, Snape reached out and held my hand, first of all quickly glancing at Madam Pomfrey who hovered over Colin Creevy at the moment. The touch of his hand helped me to endure the following couple of hours, during which the Petrification slowly – a way too slowly – dissolved. I felt my heart beat again, the air filled my lungs, and the blood resumed the flow through my vains. I gritted my teeth as soon as I could to supress the moan that threatened to escape my lips. Snape released my hand as soon as I showed the first signs of life, yet he remained close.

"Poppy, come over here!" Snape called out to Madam Pomfrey, who rushed to us and quickly examined me. "She seems to be in pain. It's not a normal reaction. What does it means?"

"That means I was correct, Severus. Her mind was alert all the time. The others don't even notice the moment of Un-Petrification. They're simply wakes up as if from sleeping."

"Can you give her something to relieve the pain?" Snape angrily asked.

"You know better than I do that this potion cannot be mixed with anything else. It won't take long, I promise. Only ten or so minutes more."

Snape snorted, clearly disapproving her statement – ten minutes seemed too long for his opinion. Personally I thought it was not that long at all – my body was burning for two hours already – I could easily endure another ten minutes, knowing that those will be the last minutes of pain. Eventually the pain subsided, and I sighed in relief. It was so good to have a real sensations again.

"Thank you," I whispered, squinting at Snape . "For everything."

"Are you feeling alright, Miss Swan?" Snape quirked his eyebrows.

"I guess so," I nodded.

Madam Pomfrey quickly checked my physical condition. While she muttered some spells, waving her wand over me, the hospital door opened, allowing in Mr. and Mrs. Weasley along with Ginny. Her eyes were swimming with tears, she was pale and shaken – no wonder, considering that she just had returned from the Chamber of Secrets. The only question was – how?

Mrs. Weasley gently tucked Ginny in bed, while Madam Pomfrey gave her the Calming Draught and ordered the house elf to bring her some hot chocolate. I was practically dying to find out what the hell I have been missing, so I tried to sit up. With Snape's assistance I finally leaned back in pillows and looked around.

I was the first, but definitely not the last one who was coming back to life. Hermione already blinked her eyes, Colin and Justin both stretched their stiff limbs, but the other girl from Ravenclaw was sitting up just like me, looking around in confusion. A loud meow came from Madam Pomfrey's office, indicating that Mrs. Norris too was awake.

It took another hour or so, before we all were released from the hospital wing. No permanent damage was done. Since there was no chance to have a word with Snape, I did not hesitated and left along with Hermione. There was a feast organized in the Great Hall, so we both slowly walked along the corridor, enjoying the chance to properly use our legs again. During the way, we shared the stories of our experience with the basilisk. I just finished to tell Hermione about how I caught Ginny speaking in Parseltongue, when we were accompanied by the youngest of Weasleys in person. She had heard what I said, and her face was full of remorse when she began to walk beside us.

"I remember what you said," she quietly admitted. "I heard you and, Bella, please, believe me, I wanted to stop. But I couldn't. That diary – it had me in full control."

"Diary? Tom Riddle's diary?" I recalled that night – Ginny indeed held the black leather book in her hands. Unable to contain my curiousity any longer, I pulled both Hermione and Ginny to the window-sill where we all perched on. "Okay, we have a lot of time, so tell the whole story from the beginning. And please, at first tell me, where did you got that diary in the first place?"

Hesitantly, blushing and once in a while bursting in tears, Ginny began her story – how she found the diary among the books Mrs. Weasley bought her in Diagon Alley, how she began to write into it, receiving an answers from Tom Riddle, and how he slowly possessed her, controlling her body and forcing her to open the Chamber and set the basilisk on Muggle-borns. I held her hand while she spoke, because in spite of Calming Draught, Ginny still looked on the verge of breaking down.

"Gin, it wasn't your fault," I sighed, when she finally went silent. "When I saw you that night, I could tell by your eyes that it wasn't you who attacked the students. It was obvious that you were kind of hypnotized. Personally, I don't hold any grudges, and I think – though I cannot speak for the others – Hermione too won't blame you," I squinted at Hermione, who sat on Ginny's other side, her eyes full of tears.

"Of course, I don't!" Hermione put her arm around Ginny's shoulders. "Bella already said that it wasn't your fault. You're still my friend, Ginny!"

We sat on window-sill for a while, hugged each other. Only when my stomach rumbled loudly, I chuckled and released both girls, playfully ruffling Ginny's bright red hair. "I think we should better hurry up before all yummy things are gone from the table. My stomach haven't seen the food for a month or so."

Hermione laughed, because her own stomach decided to pick up that very moment to remind our Miss know-it-all of its existance, protesting for such long absence of food. Even Ginny smiled through the tears. As we resumed to walk, I asked Ginny how did she escaped from the Chamber. She retold everything she heard from Harry in McGonagall's office right after Harry and Ron brought her back from the Chamber.

"So, the short version would be – the diary is gone, the basilisk is dead, but the Heir of Slytherin or Tom Riddle was in fact Lord Voldemort?" It was not so much of a question as it was a statement of the fact.

"Basically, yes," Hermione nodded. "But, it's all over now, isn't it?"

I merely nodded, then all talking came to an end as we entered the Great Hall and joined the feast, where the whole school already had gathered, most of students wearing their pyjamas. No one even noticed that I sat at Gryffindor table – or even if they did, no one had objections. Some of Slytherins noticed, though, but they still greeted my return with a round of applause and cheerful smiles. Of course, Malfoy was not among them.

Nick, Harry and Ron were those who cheered the most, seeing Hermione and me. While we ate, Harry and Ron filled us both with the information we missed, like Hagrid's arrest (thankfully the release papers were already sent), their trip to the Forbidden Forest to visit a huge spider, Aragog (who was, in fact, the supposed Slytherin monster who became the reason of Hagrid's expulsion), then how they discovered that the real monster is basilisk (thanks to the notes they found in Hermione and mine hands (we both gave each other a high-five for thinking in the same direction), and how they went down to the Chamber of Secrets.

I was most glad to hear that Lockhart (whom Harry and Ron practically forced to escort them into the Chamber) turned out to be a fraud who bragged with the accomplishments of the other wizards, then he tried to use Ron's broken wand to attack them, but the spell backfired and hit Lockhart himself, erasing his entire memory in result. Harry also told us how he freed Dobby, who used to serve the Malfoy family.

At four o'clock in the morning Hagrid arrived at the feast, causing another round of applause from the entire school (the first applause went to honour Madam Pomfrey and Professor Sprout for successful reviving of those who had been Petrified). Everyone was overjoyed (apart from Hermione) when Professor Dumbledore, who had returned to the Headmaster post, announced that all exams has been cancelled.

And so another year had ended. For the last time I was in dormitory, gathering my stuff and placing them into the trunk, but my thoughts kept on returning to what Snape said that night – or rather, what he did _not _said. At some point I was a little bit angry at Madam Pomfrey and Professor Sprout who choosed very inappropiate moment to appear in the moment when Snape was about to reveal what would be 'if things were different'. Wonder, what could he possibly mean by that?

But there was no use of asking, just like he already warned. There were a few times I tried to give a hint about his visits in hospital, but every time Snape just gave me a look of pure confusion. He actually did not know what I was talking about. There were a few spells that could alter and also erase some particular or all memories (like it actually happened with Lockhart), so I knew he was not exaggerating – the memory erasing _was _possible.

I just had finished packing, when suddenly there was a knock at the door. There was no one else in girl's dormitory, so whoever was there, he or she was looking for me, because the rest of Slytherins already had left to gather in the Entrance Hall.

"Miss Swan, may I have a word with you?"

I nearly slammed the door into his face in initial shock, but Snape quickly grabbed the handle, making this attempt useless. "I was under impression that boys... well, the men for that matter, cannot enter girls dormitory."

"May I remind you, Miss Swan, that I'm not only professor of this school, but the Head of Slytherin house as well?" Snape as always spoke in calm, quiet voice. "That is why the restriction spells have no effect to me. Any other male professor, however, could not enter this dormitory without my escort."

"Very comforting," I unsuccessfully tried to sound sarcastic.

"Don't worry, Miss Swan, I won't hold you back too long," Snape thrusted his hand in robe pocket and pulled out a piece of folded parchment which he shoved into my hand.

"What is that?"

"A list of books I would advise you to read during the summer, if you wish to get some theory before what you will learn next year. There are potion ingredient list as well with what you should buy, as well as instructions of some tinctures, harmless enough for you to try to brew them on your own. I believe even you are capable of such task. Make a notes and keep the samples from each brewing time, however in name of Merlin do not try to_ use_ these potions! They are not _that_ harmless."

I felt kind of honoured that Snape trusted me to learn brewing without assistance. Before I could say a word, though, he turned and strode out of room. It was wise, though, since I found myself quite unable to make any coherent answer at the moment.

Even if he did not remembered anything, I knew that those nights will always remain buried deep into _my _mind. These memories I would always cherish as the most precious ones, because what he did was beyond words. In the moments of the pure darkness, he was the one who brought the light and warmed my heart with his presence and simple, sometimes even unnoticable care.

Professor Dumbledore was so kind to magically transport my car to London, locating it in King's Cross train station parking lot. I already contacted with "Leaky Cauldron" bartender Tom and made arrangement that he will look after the _Jeep _while I will be in Forks. During the trip back to London, Fred, George and Ginny also settled in our compartment, and so we had a lot of fun. I tried to taught them the Shield Charm, but only Hermione proved herself to be capable of mastering it properly, and even she needed to pronounce the incantation verbally, however I was certain that with a little practice she might be able to do the non-verbal magic soon.

Eventually the train reached London. We already were approaching the barrier that parted us from the Muggle world, when I suddenly remembered something.

"Harry, wait! I've got something for you. At first I wanted to send you this to your birthday, but knowing the situation you have in home, you will have it now." I took the wrapped box out of rucksack and handed to Harry, who took it, a bit astonished.

"What is it?"

"Just open it," I smiled broadly.

Harry quickly tore the paper off and gasped at the sight of cardboard box with label _Nokia_. He opened it and took out the mobile phone with added manual instruction and charger.

"The card is already active, you can make the calls and send SMS as much as you want. I activated the vibration profile to prevent Dursleys from hearing the call, or else they might try to take it away from you."

"Bella, that is... I don't know what to say!" Harry was surprised beyond words.

"Now you can call both Hermione and me, our numbers are already saved in phone's memory. I think you won't have problems to learn to use it."

Harry looked at small device in his hand with disbelief, then he moved forward and hugged me. "Thank you, Bella! Thanks a lot!"

"You're welcome. Just promise me one thing – if there's any problem with Dursleys, call me right away and I'll be there."

"But you're going to Forks, a thousands of miles away from here."

"I'll be back in England after two weeks. I already reserved the room in "Leaky Cauldron" for two months. Dumbledore made arrangement with minister to allow me to pass the Apparition test."

"Wow, that's great! I hope you'll pass the test successfully," Harry wished heartily, then placed the phone back in box and hid it inside of his trunk.

Then we pushed our carts through the wall together. Hermione and Weasleys were already waiting on the other side. I could see Dursleys standing in a distance, nervously glancing around as if afraid that someone could see them in our close proximity. It was rather amusing sight.

"I will call you soon, Harry," Hermione said. "Bella gave your number to me and Ron."

"Better call very late, Dursleys are retiring about ten o'clock. I don't want them to see me with phone," Harry quietly answered.

"Smart thought," I agreed and gave them all a heartful hug. "I'll better run to not miss my flight. Have a nice summer!"

"You too, Bells!"

"Goodbye, Bella!"

"See you in September!" Harry, Hermione and all Weasleys one by one gave me their best wishes.

Having another short glance at Dursleys who looked more impatient with each passing minute, I start to push my cart towards the exit to return in Muggle world which in a strange way did not seemed so usual and welcoming as it used to be. And I caught myself wishing for the summer to pass quickly so I could return in Hogwarts to which I had grown very fond, and especially to one of its teachers, who became even more mysterious and interesting with each passing day.


End file.
